A Different Life
by LoriensKnight
Summary: In a world where the legend lived, Minato didn't waste any time during the fight with the masked man and had the enough chakra to use another seal to seal the whole kyubi into Naruto. See how much of a difference Minato and Kushina raising Naruto makes.
1. Chapter 1

A Different Life

**This will be an AU and some characters will act different. I will be mixing canon with my own ideas for example some events will happen earlier than expected. I was inspired by many different authors to write this story and I could only wish to match them. They are Iron Monkey Fist, Kenchi618 and Jbriz, thank you guys for such awesome stories now without further ado on to the story.**

The Kyubi had been released and the man claiming to be Madara Uchiha had just fled the battle. There was destruction everywhere. The village in ruins as buildings and ninja alike were crushed under the paws of the Kyubi. The biju stopped it rampage momentarily and looked towards the mountain known as the hokage monument where one lone figure stood. That figure was Minato Namikaze the fourth hokage.

"So you noticed me, if you think I'm going to let you destroy my village think again." Minato said with one of his signature kunai floating in front of his hands. Kyubi had released its attack and it speeding towards Minato but right before it could make contact a sealing formula appeared swallowing it whole. It appeared far away destroying mountains in the process.

"_I need to be more careful with something that powerful_." Minato thought to himself as he sensed someone behind him.

With the speed that made him legendary he spun around with the intent to take off the assailants head, but his kunai never made contact as his hand went through his opponents head. He didn't have much time to think about it as the man charged him.

"I am your opponent and you are done for." The man said as a vortex appeared from his eye.

Minato could feel himself being pulled into the vortex but he wasn't the yellow flash for nothing as he flashed to one of his scattered kunai.

"He got away so fast." The masked man said before disappearing.

Minato appeared crashing into the ground. He sat himself up before thinking. "_Who is that, my attack went right through him but he materialized himself to grab me." _His time for thinking was over as the masked man appeared in front of him.

"I won't let you get away." The masked man said. His masked shone by the moonlight his single eye was visible and it was a Sharingan.

This new revelation made Minato think. "_A sharingan, who is this man? He snuck past the barrier I set up myself and he killed the ANBU handpicked by Sarutobi-sama along with Biwako-sama and Taji. He also seemed to know that a female jinchuriki's seal is weakened during childbirth and then he managed to release and tame the Kyubi and there are only two men that have been able to control the Kyubi." _Minato then broke the silence.

"Are you Madara Uchiha?" The masked man lowered his hood showing his short black hair. "No that's impossible died long ago." Minato said.

"I wouldn't be so sure if I were you." The masked man said. Minato spoke again, "It really doesn't matter who you are. I'm not going to let you destroy what my predecessors have died to save." He finished.

"Aren't you a brave one but whether you try to stop me or not I will succeed." He said.

Minato had enough of talking he didn't have the privilege of time at the moment and he didn't have chakra to waste so he had to make it quick. Minato threw a kunai at the masked man who just let pass through him but that's what Minato wanted as he teleported to the kunai instantly calling upon a rasengan shoving it into the masked man digging into his back. Minato jumped away to create some space as the masked man got up. As the masked man started getting up Minato appeared in front of him with his palm buried in his chest before appearing back to where he once stood. The masked man stood up shakily holding his side as it looked like it was falling off.

"Impressive I must hand it to you fourth hokage you deserve the title of hokage, you manage to wound me and sever my ties with the nine tails. However, the nine tails will be mine again. I'm going to take over the world and there are so many ways of doing that and don't worry because I will come and there will be nothing you can do about it_."_ He said disappearing into his vortex.

Minato stood there alone thinking to himself. "_That tone, he was serious about taking over the world. He'll be back and when the time comes I'll be ready_."

Expanding his senses making sure the masked man was gone he wasted no time teleporting back to the village. He had to seal the Kyubi before it could kill more of his villagers. He appeared on a destroyed rock formation on the outskirts of the village. He could see the Kyubi preparing to fire another bijudama so he sped through some hand seals slamming his palm on the ground as the toad chief Gamabunta was summoned above the biju before landing on top of it. Minato instantly appeared on top of Gamabunta.

"Bunta I need you to hold him down for a little bit." Minato said jumping down while going through hand seals.

He landed on top of the nine tails head before both on them disappearing. They landed in a clearing with a resounding crash as the Kyubi slid across the ground. Minato took this time to get ready for the sealing, he teleported to Kushina and Naruto. He appeared next to his sleeping wife and child, "Sorry my love but this has to be done." He said picking Naruto up and teleporting away.

Back at the clearing with the Kyubi, Minato was speeding through hand seals as the Kyubi was slamming its tails against the barrier he created. He finished his hand seals, "**Uzumaki style: Ketsugo Tentai." **He said as tendrils of light appeared from his body speeding towards the Kyubi. The tendrils went into the nine tails body and began pulling out its chakra. Minato just finished another set of hand seals as he placed Naruto on the throne he had just summoned. The Kyubi was roaring in place as it began being pulled into baby Naruto. A few seconds later the Kyubi was sealed and Minato was passed out leaving a crying Naruto.

X-x-X

(A week later)

Minato awoke to find himself in a place he hadn't been many times in his life, a hospital room. He sat up and took in his surroundings before beginning to panic as he remembered what occurred the night before. In an instant three figures appeared in front of him. He looked up to see his personal guard standing there. The first had brown shoulder length hair and wore his hitaite as a bandana, the second had spikey brown hair and a notable weal-like scar across the bridge of his nose and the last one had brown hair and a goatee.

"Hokage-sama do not strain yourself, you've only just awakened." The one with the scar said.

"Raido, how long have I been out?" He asked.

"You have been in a comatose like state for a week there was even talk of you not waking up." Raido responded. Minato was surprised he'd been out for a week then again he did seal the strongest of the biju.

"A week!" he exclaimed before trying to get up.

Before he could fully stand up the door slammed open causing everybody in the room to be on guard. Everyone relaxed once it turned out to be the hokage's wife. She ran to her husband's side hugging him as if she would never let go. Minato snapped his fingers signaling his guard to leave the room.

"Minato-kun you had me worried I didn't know if you would wake up or not." She said crying into his shoulder.

"Kushi-chan you never have to worry about me leaving you or Naruto, speaking of Naruto where is he?" He asked holding her tight.

"He is with Kakashi and his squad at the compound." She answered.

"I need to get back to being hokage so I need you to follow Genma and Iwashi. They will take you to get Naruto and bring you to council meeting." He said.

"Why do we need to be at the council meeting?" She asked already knowing the answer.

"The council will no doubt ask about the Kyubi and I will have to tell them the truth about you and Naruto." He said as snapped his fingers again once again calling upon his guards, as they appeared in front of him.

"Genma and Iwashi I want you two to escort Kushina to our compound and escort her to the council meeting also tell Kakashi to meet me here, Raido I want you to assemble the council." He commanded and they vanished without a word.

Minato got dressed in the clothes Kushina left him. He couldn't help but think back to what the Madara impostor said_. "I'm going to take over the world and there are so many ways of doing that and don't worry because I will come and there will be nothing you can do about it." _He shook the thought out of his head he had other things to think about. His hands flipped through a series of hand seals, slamming his palm on the ground a medium sized yellow and green toad appeared.

"Hey gamakiro I have a real important job for." Minato said kneeling down.

"Anything for you Minato-sama." Gamakiro said puffing his chest out.

"I need you to tell Jiraiya that he needs to come back to the village and tell him that it's not a request." Minato said as the toad disappeared to do its job. He didn't like giving his sensei commands but he had to think of the village first and he was pretty sure that his sensei was already on his way. He felt a small spike of chakra turning to the source he found Kakashi standing there.

"Kakashi it's nice to-." Minato started to say before Kakashi enveloped him in a hug before quickly pulling away.

"Sensei I'm glad you're okay." Kakashi said causing Minato to smile. Kakashi rarely acted like this, but he would enjoy the times when Kakashi wasn't always guarding his emotions.

"It's good to see you too Kakashi but I have some business to handle and I want you to come with me." Minato said and Kakashi was instantly at his sensei's side in full shinobi mode. Minato grabbed his shoulder and they disappeared in yellow flash. They appeared in a dark forest, they stood there as if waiting for something. They didn't have to wait long as three shadowy figures appeared walking from inside the forest. When they appeared it was three men, the elderly man in the middle had his left eye covered by bandages and he walked with a cane the two men flanking him stood in the shadows the only thing you could see where the blank white mask they wore.

"I see that you have awoken, what do I owe the pleasure hokage-sama?" The man asked.

"Spare me the pleasantries Danzo I want to know what you've been up to in my absence." Minato said in a commanding tone.

"What makes you think that I've been up to anything?" Danzo questioned.

"I'm no fool and neither are you so spare me the mind games." Minato said causing Danzo to chuckle.

"You were always a keen one I've sent my men throughout the elemental nations to place false events about the Kyubi attack." Danzo said.

"That's a good start but now I need you to send some men out to see what the other villages are up to." Minato commanded.

"It will be done hokage-sama." Danzo said

"Good and don't be late to the council meeting." Minato said grabbing Kakashi and teleporting away.

X-x-X

(Hokage's Office)

Minato and Kakashi appeared in the hokage's office just a Hiruzen Sarutobi was walking in the door. The moment Sarutobi saw Minato seem to make him look younger. The wrinkles on his face became less defined, his gray hair seemed to become darker and the bags under his eyes seemed to shrink.

"Oh Minato-kun how good it is to see you and you to Kakashi." Sarutobi said with a sigh of relief.

"It's nice to see you to Sarutobi-sama." Minato said as Kakashi bowed his head.

"I assume you want to talk about what has happened in your absence." Sarutobi asked. Before Minato could respond his personal guard appeared with Kushina and Naruto in tow. They kneeled before their superiors.

"We have your family and the council has been assembled." Genma said while still kneeling.

"Thank you, you may now return to your post." Minato said as they returned to the shadows.

"Hello Kushina-chan and how is baby Naruto doing?" Sarutobi said as he looked at the sleeping baby.

"Kushi-chan I want you to stay in here with Kakashi until I call you guys." Minato said.

"Okay Minato-kun but if one of those old geezers even think of hurting my baby they'll wish they were never born." Kushina said with passion as fiery as her hair.

"They wouldn't dare, I think we have a meeting to attend Sarutobi-sama." Minato said walking away with Sarutobi in tow.

X-x-X

(Council Room)

From outside the room you could hear the idle chatter of its inhabitants. As soon as Minato and Hiruzen entered the room it became silent and stayed that way for a few seconds until someone spoke up.

"It's nice to see you awake and moving around Hokage-sama." A man said with black hair in a spikey ponytail.

"It's nice to be up and moving Shikaku but I believe we have more important matters at hand." Minato said.

"As you all know I've been incapacitated for a week and Sarutobi has been acting hokage in my stead but I would like to be caught up on current events. First I want to know the damage to our forces, Shikaku I think this is your area." Minato said turning his attention to Shikaku.

"We lost around three thousand shinobi, that's roughly twenty percent of our forces." Shikaku answered in a grim tone.

"What about civilian losses Kizashi?" Minato questioned a pink haired man.

"The civilian losses were much less severe it was around four hundred, most of them were evacuated before the Kyubi reached the village." Kizashi said.

"Speaking of the Kyubi its appearance was so sudden, where did it come from?" A man with dark hair and eyes to match said.

"So was the sudden disappearance of the Uchiha during the attack Fugaku." A man said with pupil less eyes.

"What are you insinuating Hyuga." Fugaku said in angered tone.

"That there-." Hiashi started before being interrupted.

"Quiet, I don't need two of my clan heads acting like children." Minato bellowed exuding chakra making the air heavy. The room became quiet and the occupants started to sweat as the chakra pushed down on them. He stopped releasing his chakra much to the relief of his council members.

"I apologize for my outburst hokage-sama." Hiashi begrudgingly apologized. Minato looked towards Fugaku waiting for him to do the same.

"As am I hokage-sama." Fugaku said still glaring daggers at Hiashi.

"We will talk about the Uchiha's absence later but for now the topic of the Kyubi is at hand." Minato said snapping his fingers calling an ANBU from the shadows whispering in his ear. A few seconds later the ANBU walked in with Kushina and Naruto.

"While it's nice to see her, what is your wife doing here and whose child is she holding." A man with blonde hair and blues questioned.

"Kushina is here because she's part of the story and so is our son whom see is holding." Minato said the last part with pride.

"Son it all makes sense now, Kushina's sudden retirement from the ninja forces and Mikoto's talk of Sasuke having a best friend like her." Fugaku said.

"Now onto how the Kyubi appeared, now as all of you should know the First wife was Mito Uzumaki who was jinchuriki of the Kyubi but what most of you don't know was that when she died the Kyubi was transferred into Kushina." Minato said shocking most of the occupants of the room.

"So how did the Kyubi get released?" Homura one of the elders asked.

"Female jinchuriki seals are weakened during childbirth and someone found out and attacked Kushina after she gave birth." Minato said.

"So one person got through our barrier silently and killed three ANBU guard, Taji and Biwako-sama without anyone noticing before it was too late." A large man with spiral marks on his cheeks said.

"Yes Choza he used some type of teleporting jutsu that let him move freely in and out of our barrier without being detected." Minato wanted to keep the part about the Sharingan to himself for now.

"So he released the Kyubi and set it upon our village?" A feral looking woman asked.

"Who would do that and I don't know of anyone alive today that could control the Kyubi." A confused Fugaku asked.

"Well he separated me and Kushina when I took Naruto to safety then I rescued Kushina after he released the Kyubi. He tried to attack me but when I retaliated my kunai went straight through him as if nothing was there. We fought for a short time and I manage to wound him and relinquish his control over the Kyubi. He told me that he would be back and that he would take over the world then he disappeared." Minato explained.

"That explains where the Kyubi came from but it does not explain where it went." Danzo said.

Minato knew this was coming but it didn't make it any easier, "I sealed the Kyubi into my son." Minato said. The room got dangerously quiet Minato looked around the room at the different faces.

"Is he stable I mean will the Kyubi be able to break free?" A man with long black hair asked.

"Have you so little faith in my husband's skills, I've kept it at bay for thirteen years so I know my son can do it." Kushina spoke up for the first time.

"Kushina is right we need to have faith in our hokage's skill if we can't count on him then who." Shikaku said nodding in Kushina's direction.

"I guarantee you safety, the seal is sturdy and won't break any time soon." Minato assured his council.

"Him being your son and a jinchuriki I would think that he's going to receive special training." Danzo questioned.

Minato normal blue eyes became icy as they fell on Danzo, "You don't need to worry about my son he will receive whatever training I deem worthy and that's the end of that." Minato said with force.

"As you wish hokage-sama." Danzo relented.

"Kushina you may go Kakashi will escort you home, see you there." Minato said turning his attention back to the council.

X-x-X

(Later that Night at the Namikaze home)

Minato was lying in bed with Kushina. Naruto was in his crib next to the bed. Kushina rolled over facing him and dug her head into his chest.

"Minato we both barely made it through the attack and our baby boy would have had to grow up being an orphaned jinchuriki." She said starting to cry. Minato held her closer trying to console her.

"Shhh, don't talk like that we both made and we get to raise our son. I'll never let anything happen to you or Naruto." Minato said as he looked down to see Kushina sleep. He smiled and thought to himself, "_I don't know what I would do without my family I'll die before I let anything happen to them."_ Soon he drifted off to sleep with a smile on his face and his wife in his arms.


	2. Chapter 2

A Different Life

**I didn't expect for this story to get so many views so soon but I can't argue with the results. I'll try my best to have a consistent update schedule and if you have any questions feel free to PM me, I'll answer when I get the chance. This chapter doesn't have much action if any at all but it does set up next chapter.**

** Chapter 2 **

**(12 years later)**

Naruto was up early and eager to get to the academy, today was the first day of the rest if his life. He got dressed, a short sleeve dark blue turtleneck, dark blue pants taped at the ankle with black tape. He made his way downstairs to find his mom waiting in the kitchen with breakfast on the table. When she sees him she calls him over to her.

"Naruto-kun your father wanted me to tell you that he wants you to come by his office today." Kushina told him.

"Okay but why did he leave so early?" Naruto asked.

"I guess something came up he got up in a rush this morning." Kushina said sliding him some food.

"Sorry mom I'm in a rush this morning I love you, see you later." Naruto said grabbing an apple running out the door.

Kushina couldn't help but smile she knew why in a rush she just wanted him stay her baby for as long as he could. She eventually this day would come, the day her son became a shinobi and thrust out into the world. She knew something big was going to happen, she could feel it in her stomach. She didn't know what was going to happen or when but she knew something was coming.

X-x-X

(At the academy)

Naruto was standing in the door of the academy and it seems he didn't get up as early as he thought. The class was already full he seemed to be one of the last people to come. He saw Shikamaru and Choji and decided to sit by them, he walked over to them. Shikamaru as usual had his head down and Choji stuffing his face.

"What's up guys, any ideas of what team you'll be on?" Naruto asked them, Shikamaru mainly.

"As troublesome as it may be I think Ino, Choji and I will be teamed up like our fathers before us." Shikamaru said before laying his head back down. Choji attempted to say something but nothing but muffles came out due to his mouth being full of chips.

A few more kids came in before Iruka walked to the front of the class and started naming off teams, after a few teams and not hearing his name started talking to Shikamaru again.

"So Shika, how's the training going making any progress?" Naruto asked.

"Training is fine it keeps my mom off my back." Shikamaru said. Naruto was going to respond when he heard someone clearing their throat. He turned to the source of the sound and found Iruka staring at him and Shikamaru.

"Is there something you would like to tell the class gentlemen?" Iruka said looking annoyed. Shikamaru mumbled something about troublesome blonds before laying his head back down.

"Not at all Iruka-sensei, you may continue." Naruto said smirking.

"Thank you for approval Naruto." Iruka said sarcastically before continuing.

There were a few laughs around the class until Iruka used his signature jutsu to shut them up, "Now as I was saying before being interrupted, Team seven will be Sakura Haruno, Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki and Kakashi Hatake will be their sensei."

A squeal could be heard from Sakura, Naruto and Sasuke just gave each other an acknowledging nod. Naruto could live with this team Sasuke was obviously talented and Sakura had her upsides to then he had his big brother Kakashi as a sensei. He was known throughout the world other people would kill to have Kakashi as a sensei. Iruka started naming off teams again.

"Team eight will be Shino Aburame, Hinata Hyuga, Kiba Inuzuka and Kurenai Yuhi as their sensei." Iruka said giving them a minute before continuing, "Team nine is still in rotation from last year so on to team ten, Choji Akimichi, Shikamaru Nara and Ino Yamanaka with Asuma Sarutobi as the sensei." Iruka Finished.

Naruto looked around his class thinking back to the times he had here. This could be the last time he would see some of these kids for a long time. They were all going to be ninja now, they would taking missions outside of the villages the academy walls wouldn't be there to protect them anymore. This is the day they had all been waiting for and now that it was here he was excited.

X-x-X

(Academy)

It had been an hour and everybody had left with their new sensei, Naruto knew Kakashi had a habit of being late so he chose to ask Sasuke to spar. He walked over to Sasuke being pestered by Sakura.

"Hey Sasuke since Kakashi-sensei is not here yet would you like to spar?" Naruto asked as a look of relief appeared on Sasuke's face.

"It's your funeral." Sasuke said walking over to the sparring area.

They walked to the sparring area and stood opposite of each other waiting to start, Sakura would officiate the fight she stood in the middle of both of them with her hand raised. They were unaware of the eye that watched them from afar.

"Are you both ready?" She asked getting a nod from both of them she dropped her hand while getting out of the way as they shot towards each other.

As soon as he was close enough Naruto threw a quick right jab. Sasuke titled his head to the side as Naruto's fist narrowly retaliating with his own punches. Naruto continued dodging Sasuke's onslaught before jumping back to analyze the situation, he could tell that Sasuke's fighting style was about countering and then keep the opponent on the defensive. He didn't have any more time to think as Sasuke shot towards him again, he had to quickly duck under a high kick. Taking advantage of the situation he threw two quick punches to Sasuke's solar plexus sending him flying backwards towards a tree but before he could hit it he was snatched out the air.

"It's good to see you Kakashi-nii." Naruto greeted the white haired man behind Sasuke. This caused Sakura to raise an eyebrow she thought Naruto was an only child.

"Ah its Kakashi sensei in public Naruto now that I'm here we can get to know each other better." Kakashi said putting Sasuke down.

They walked over to the spectator area and sat down but before Kakashi could start Sakura spoke up. "Kakashi sensei are you really Naruto's brother you two don't look anything alike?" She asked eliciting a chuckle from Naruto and Kakashi.

"In all but blood Sakura." Naruto answered cryptically.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She asked.

"I thought you were the smart one Sakura, he means that we are not related by blood but we are brothers nonetheless." Kakashi answered before continuing "Now if I may I would like to know your likes, dislike, hobbies and goals." He said pointing at Sasuke.

"My likes are my brother and cousin, my dislikes are traitors and sweets, my hobbies are training and wire weaving and my goal is to become strong enough to beat my brother." Sasuke said.

Sakura was next, she didn't really say she had any likes but the look she gave Sasuke told it all, her dislikes were spicy food and bullies, her hobbies were trivia games and reading and her goal was the same as her likes.

Naruto went last his likes were family and ramen, his dislikes were people who judged books by their cover, his hobbies were training and calligraphy and his goals were to become a hokage greater than those before him. When they all finished Sakura asked another question.

"Kakashi-sensei since you know about us why don't you tell us about you." She asked.

"Well you already know my name, Naruto's my brother and that I'm a jonin I would say you know enough." Kakashi said eye smiling before disappearing leaving a small note in his place.

Naruto walked over to the note and read it. He pass the note to his teammates, Sakura looked kind of disgruntled Sasuke looked indifferent.

"So what do you guys think the test is going to be about?" Sasuke questioned.

"I don't know but knowing Kakashi it won't be easy." Naruto stated.

"I have to get home I'll see you guys tomorrow." Sasuke said walking away.

With Sasuke gone Sakura had no reason to stay so she left after him. His first being a ninja he couldn't be any happier but he didn't have anything to do until he remembered what his mother told him this morning, he started making his way to his dad's office.

X-x-X

(Hokage's Office)

Naruto was happy to be seeing his dad he had been absent a lot the past week getting ready for the Chunin exams in Kusa. Naruto was walking into his dad's office before he was stopped by the secretary a young woman with long brown hair and green eyes.

"Is there a problem Mai-san?" He asked her.

"No but your father is in a meeting right now but they should be finished soon you can wait here if you want." She said smiling.

"That's sounds okay, do you know who he is meeting with?" Naruto asked sitting down.

"I believe he is in a meeting with a man from the land of frost." She said.

"Oh maybe that's why he left so early this morning." Naruto said in deep thought. "_The land of frost usually stays to themselves, I wonder what made them come now?" _He thought.

As he finished his thoughts the door to his dad's office opened revealing a man with pale skin and green hair he wore white baggy pants and a light blue long sleeve shirt. Minato seemed to take notice of Naruto as he ushered the visitor over to him.

"Yake Juhi I would like you to meet my son Naruto." Minato said introducing him.

"It's nice to meet you young Naruto-sama." He said shaking Naruto's hand.

"It's nice to meet you too Juhi-san." Naruto said.

"I'm sorry but I must take my leave now and thank you again hokage-sama." He said before leaving. When the man was finally gone Naruto let his curiosity get the best of him.

"Dad who was that guy?" He asked.

"He is a personal guard for the daimyo of the land of frost." Minato answered.

"You wouldn't be able to tell me why he was here would you?" Naruto asked using his best puppy eyes making his dad chuckle.

"I'm Sorry son that confidential information." Minato said smiling. Naruto knew he wouldn't get anything from his dad so he changed the subject.

"Hey dad, I wondering how did you come up with the teams this year?" Naruto asked.

"Like I do every year." He said as if Naruto should know, seeing his sons confusion he continued, "Compatibility son, I along with the jonin sensei look back at your grades throughout the academy and see who fits best with who." He finished.

"I understand how Shikamaru and his team fit the same with Shino and his but how does my team fit together?" Naruto asked curiously.

"Your team is quite special as the other teams specialize in one thing your team has the components to take on any kind of mission when called upon." He said before stopping letting it sink in. "You yourself have a very diverse set of skills as does Sasuke but Sakura will be a very important part of the team as well. I'll let you think about it but right now I have some work to do." He finished.

"Yeah I'll see you at home." Naruto said before disappearing in a cloud of leaves and smoke.

When he arrived to his house he found it empty, he figured his mom was at the market or something. He was home alone with nothing to do, a time for training he thought to himself. He walked to one the special training grounds designed by his dad, it was lush with green grass, large trees, and rocks and surrounded by four 18 foot walls reinforced by seals. It was designed to be able to withstand all types of training from kinjutsu to taijutsu. He wondered what the test would be over, "_How would Kakashi test us?" _He wondered then it hit him, they were team seven and all of the team sevens he knew took one test. He created two clones and told them to find his teammates and tell them what he just discovered. He just hoped that he was right but now was not the time to doubt his self it was time to train. He decided to work on his suiton manipulation. He walked over to a small pond where the moisture in the air would be high. He held his hand over the pond soon water started appearing in his hand, Naruto smiled as it started to overflow falling into the pond.

X-x-X

(Later that night)

Minato came home and it was quiet, to quiet for him he extended his senses. He sensed Kushina in their bedroom and it seemed that Naruto had been training. He walked to the training ground where Naruto was and picked him up and took him to his room. He smiled his son would be great he just hoped he would be able to do what was right when the time came.

The next day Naruto made his way to the training grounds, when he got there it seemed that he was the first one there he sat down to wait on his team. He didn't have to wait long as Sakura came walking up still looking half sleep, they spent the next five minutes sitting in an awkward silence until Sasuke finally arrived. Since his team was here Naruto thought it would be best if they talk strategy while waiting for Kakashi little did they know said man was watching them from the trees above them. An hour later Kakashi arrived with his buried in his little pink book much to the annoyance of Sakura.

"Sensei I thought we were supposed to be here at 6 am?" Sakura asked.

"Correct you were supposed to be here at 6 the note said nothing about me being here at 6." Kakashi responded.

"As clever as always huh Sensei." Naruto said smirking.

"Let's get to business, these are the reason we are all here." Kakashi said holding up two golden bells.

"What are those for sensei?" Sasuke asked confused.

"These are your objective you have two hours to get them from me." Kakashi said setting the timer he had for two hours his face still buried in his book.

As soon as the timer started Naruto dashed towards Kakashi creating two clones. Sasuke went behind him to flank him and Sakura was nowhere to be seen. Naruto and his clones were upon Kakashi, the first clone went low trying to sweep Kakashi's feet from under him. Kakashi jumped lashing out at the second clone attempting to punch him. He could feel the air around him getting hot, out the corner of his eye he could see something big heading his way fast but it was too late as the giant ball of fire collided with him. The fire evaporated revealing charred remains of a tree branch.

"Where did he go did he go?" Asked Naruto looking towards Sasuke.

"Somewhere in the forest I assume, let's go get Sakura." Sasuke said taking off with Naruto not far behind.

X-x-X

(With Kakashi)

Kakashi sat in a tree where he had to kawarimi himself with a branch, "_To think these kids burned my precious and forced me to use kawarimi even with me holding back, let's see what else they have planned." _Kakashi thought before disappearing. He tracked his student's chakra to a clearing, nothing special just a clearing with a river running through it but something seemed off. He instincts kicked in as he dodged a volley of shuriken and kunai, he jumped down into the clearing he looked around and noticed the chakra in the air. He quickly dispelled the genjutsu that was placed on him, he took to the trees to gather his bearings but he hit an invisible wall.

"Ah a barrier jutsu impressive Naruto I see you've been working on your Fuinjutsu." Kakashi said looking towards the forest as his students came walking out.

"Yes I have and it seems to be holding strong." Naruto said smiling.

"I guess your plan was good after all." Sasuke said.

"I'm sure you could make a plan just as good Sasuke-kun." Sakura said blushing a little when Sasuke looked her way.

"So you've caught me but the test was to get the bells." Kakashi said.

"We do have the bells we just captured you to as collateral." Naruto said.

"Smart but could you let me go now?" Kakashi asked.

"I'll let you go but first bring the bells to the edge of the barrier." Naruto said walking to the barrier.

"I'll give you the bells if you tell me your plan." Kakashi negotiated.

"I don't see why not we already have you so it wouldn't hurt." Naruto said.

He went on to tell Kakashi how he figured out the test and how he sent shadow clones to tell Sasuke and Sakura. The shadow clones then told them of his plan, they would meet at his favorite restraint and he would send three henged shadow clones in their place while they set up the actual trap.

"Well devised I must say not many people in the world can say they've captured me but you seem to forget one thing." Kakashi said smiling from behind his mask making his students nervous.

"What did we forget?" A sweating Sakura asked.

"That I can use shadow clones too." Said Kakashi from behind them making them all jump.

The would-be genin turned around to the barrier to see where the clone Kakashi once stood a plume of smoke. Realizing that they never caught Kakashi and essentially failing the test made them hang their heads.

"So does that mean we failed?" Naruto asked.

"On the contrary my young charges, you've done more than most ninja who've come across me can say." Kakashi said ruffling Naruto's hair.

"So we pass?" Sakura excitedly asked.

"Let's just say team seven is on to bigger and better things." Kakashi said

X-x-X

(Later at the Hokage's Office)

Later that day in the hokage's office, Minato was surrounded by all the jonin that had tested teams and like the previous years after he changed the academy curriculum the numbers were around 45% pass rate. It was Naruto's class turn, Tekuno let's start with you. Minato said looking at a heavy set man.

"My team failed." He answered which was the same response he received the next few times until it came to Asuma Sarutobi a bear of a man short black hair, broad shoulders and a goatee.

"Team ten passed with flying colors." Asuma said proudly. Next it was Kurenai Yuhi's turn a fairly new jonin, fair skin beautiful red eyes long black hair she was dressed in a red mesh blouse and a material that resembled bandages.

"Team eight passed exceeding expectations." Kurenai said. It was Kakashi's turn and everybody was looking at him waiting for an answer. He stood there aloofly digging in his ear until he looked at everyone staring at him.

"Is there something I can do for you all?" He asked casually causing Minato to bury his face in his hands and everyone else to sweatdrop.

"Kakashi we need to know if team seven passed." Minato said.

"Oh is that it, yes they passed team seven is in commission." Kakashi said.

"I thank you all for your time you are dismissed for now and those who passed their teams I want you to stay behind." Minato ordered as his subordinates either left or stayed.

Out of the many jonin that were just standing there only four remained, Kakashi, Asuma, Kurenai and Tall slender man with brown hair.

"You four have passed your teams and all of you have clan heirs on your teams, their parents as well as me expect to see them grow under your command, do not make me regret choosing you as the sensei for your respective teams." Minato said.

"Hai hokage-sama." They responded in unison.

"That is all, you are dismissed." He said as they bowed and disappeared.

X-x-X

(A month later)

It had been about a month since team sevens formation, they divided their time between doing d-rank missions and team training sessions. Naruto and Sasuke began to get restless doing d-rank missions while Sakura consistently told them that was what genin did. It was only a matter of time before they brought it up with Kakashi. They were all waiting for Kakashi as usual.

"Do you think he'll listen to us about going on a higher rank mission?" Sasuke asked Naruto.

"I think he will he knows what we can do." Naruto said.

"I hope he does because I'm getting tired of these stupid d rank missions." Sasuke responded.

"Have you ever been outside the village?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah I use to travel with my mom before the incident." Sasuke said hanging his head. Naruto felt bad for bringing up bad memories.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to do that." Naruto said.

"No it's fine, have you been out of the village?" Sasuke asked changing the subject.

"Yeah I've been to a few chunin exams with my dad." Naruto answered.

"What about you Sakura have you been outside of the village?" Sasuke asked.

"No my parents never took me with them they said it was too dangerous." Sakura said kind of ashamed being the only one to not have left the village.

"We have some time before sensei comes want to spar?" Naruto asked Sasuke.

"You always want to spar, is fighting all you think about?" Sakura questioned kind of loudly.

"Maybe if you thought about fighting a little more then you wouldn't be holding us back." Sasuke said.

As soon as the words left Sasuke's mouth tears started streaming down Sakura's face. Naruto felt kind of bad for her but she needed some kind of wakeup call and who better to get it from then her crush. Sakura took off running Naruto tried to stop her but it was for nothing as she kept running.

"Sasuke did you have to be so cruel?" Naruto asked.

"I didn't mean to make her cry but she needed to be told. You know it's true she's holding us back." Sasuke said.

"He's right Naruto she needed a wakeup call though I would prefer it was worded different." Kakashi said appearing out of nowhere while glaring at Sasuke.

"What about our training today, we can't do that without Sakura." Said Naruto.

"I have something special for you guys today and I'll handle Sakura just head to your dad's office and I'll meet you guys there." Kakashi said before vanishing into thin air.

X-x-X

(With Sakura and Kakashi)

Sakura was running towards her house when she bumped into something hard. She looked up from her spot on the floor to see Kakashi holding his hand out. She took his hand helping her stand.

"Let's walk and talk Sakura." Kakashi said starting to walk away, Sakura ran to catch up.

"What do you want to talk about sensei?" Sakura asked wiping her face.

"You know Sasuke is right Sakura." Kakashi said seriously.

"So you think I'm holding us back too?" Sakura said starting to cry again.

Kakashi stopped and kneeled down to face Sakura, "Yes I do think you're holding the team back but it doesn't have to stay that way." He said.

"W-what do you mean sensei?" She asked.

"You are a shinobi of the Konoha now you have to start acting like it, start taking your training seriously and if you want I can help you when we get back from our mission." Kakashi said.

"That's sound great Kakashi-sensei but what mission I thought today was a training day." Sakura asked.

"Come with me and find out." Kakashi said grabbing Sakura and disappearing before she could answer.

X-x-X

(Hokage's Office)

Naruto and Sasuke sat outside the hokage's office waiting for the rest of their team chatting about their favorite techniques. They would have gone in but Minato was meeting with another team at the moment.

"I just started learning it but it's quickly becoming one of my favorite jutsu." Sasuke said.

"So your brother taught you what once was a village secret, that's awesome." Naruto said in awe. He heard some voices he recognized and looked down the hallway to see Kakashi and Sakura walking their way.

"I see you two are doing fine without us." Kakashi said with Sakura hiding behind him. Sasuke saw her and decided to apologize.

"Sakura I shouldn't have said what I did but that doesn't make it any less true." Sasuke said getting a glare from Kakashi and a chuckle from Naruto.

"Kakashi-nii I think that's the best you're going to get from an Uchiha." Naruto said stifling a laugh.

"It doesn't matter now we have a mission to accept come on." Kakashi said walking to the hokage's office his students following behind. The door opened to reveal Minato meeting with team eight.

"Your bad habit of being late seems to have rubbed off on your team Kakashi." Minato said from behind his desk.

"We had a bit of a problem but we here now hokage-sama." Kakashi responded.

"Now that you are all here I can brief you on your mission. Your teams have been chosen to retrieve an ancient artifact in the land of hot water the client name is Kishi will meet you at the designated location." Minato explained.

"If I may ask how will we recognize the client?" Kurenai asked.

"I believe Kakashi has had previous meetings with our client." Minato said with a small smile on his face. Everyone looked towards Kakashi waiting for his response.

"Yes Kishi and I have participated on a mission beforehand and let's just say that he's very unique." He said.

"Kakashi will lead this mission with Kurenai in second in command you leave tomorrow morning, are there any more questions?" Minato asked.

"This seems like a routine retrieval mission why does it require two teams?" Kurenai asked curiously.

"Normally I would send one team but this particular artifact will attract some unwanted attention now I have work to do if you don't have any more questions." Minato said in a tone that left no room to argue.

"No we don't have any other questions hokage-sama." Kakashi said giving Kurenai a disapproving look.

"Good, you are dismissed." Minato said getting back to his work.

All of the ninja started filing out of the room. When they got outside the office Kakashi and Kurenai stopped their teams to address them.

"You heard hokage-sama we leave at dawn this is going to be a long mission so pack enough for at least a week." Kakashi said addressing the genin. The two teams exited the tower and the jonin left their genin to their own vices.

"So how have you guys been I haven't seen you guys since graduation?" Naruto asked his former classmates.

"I've been well Naruto-san." Shino said from behind his collar.

"Don't worry about us Uzumaki just don't get in our way on this mission." Kiba said puffing out his chest. A small bark could be heard from inside his jacket, a small white dog appeared.

"I know Akamaru he's never been the brightest." Naruto said talking to the dog.

"Just make sure not to get in our way mutt." Sasuke said from beside Naruto.

"How about I smash your pretty little face Uchiha." Kiba said lunging at Sasuke only to be held back by Shino.

I would like to see you try Inuzuka." Sasuke said being held back by Naruto.

"Come on Sasuke he's not worth it." Sakura said trying to calm down.

"Yeah come on Sasuke we have nothing to prove let's go." Naruto said dragging him away.

"Fine, I have to go home anyway." Sasuke said walking away.

"Yeah me too see you guys in the morning." Sakura said.

"I guess I have to get home to guys, it was nice talking to you guys." Naruto said turning around bumping into someone. He stood up and looked down to find Hinata sitting on the ground, he immediately helped her up.

"Hey Hinata I'm sorry I didn't see you there." He said pulling her up.

"I-i-it's fine Naruto-kun um I have to go." She said before running off.

"It seems we all some place to be, come on Kiba we must go, goodbye Naruto-san." Shino said slightly bowing before pulling Kiba away.

"_Everybody seems to be in a hurry, I guess they just wanted extra time to prepare for the mission. Speaking of mission I need to go get packed and tell mom._" Naruto thought to himself.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

**Don't forget to review. It doesn't hurt but it sure helps and it only takes a few seconds.**

Teams seven and eight were gathered at the northern gate about to leave for their mission. The genin were eager to start their first mission outside of the village though some showed their excitement more than others.

"Watch out world Kiba Inuzuka is coming." Kiba shouted to no one in particular.

"Kiba quiet people are still sleep now check your pack before we go." Kurenai told Kiba in a scolding tone.

"Why aren't you yelling at Naruto he doesn't even have a bag." Kiba said checking his bag one last time.

The rest of the genin sans Sasuke looked at Naruto he smiled and pulled a medium sized scroll that hung from his lower back. He put it on the ground and rolled it out, it was about three feet in length.

"**Kai.**" He said forming the tiger hand seal. In an instant the scroll was covered with camping supplies, weapons and clothes.

"That's why now both of you hurry up we still have a schedule to keep." Kakashi said.

"How far is the land of hot water from here Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked resealing his scroll.

"It's a two day trip from here so let's go." Kakashi commanded.

The group set out to their destination. The land of hot water was located between the land of frost and the land of rice patties and northeast of the land of fire. It used to have a hidden village until the decided that it would be best they get rid of it and become a peaceful village. Some of its shinobi didn't like it and became missing-nin and some of the loyal ones either retired or became shinobi for hire.

X-x-X

The team had been traveling for a day and made camp to rest for the night. They were on a tight schedule their contact was known to have sporadic movements but the genin weren't used to such prolonged periods of traveling. Though some fared better than others, Naruto who seemed to have endless stamina was sweating lightly while Sasuke and Kiba looked winded. The other three genin didn't look so good although Shino didn't show it exhaustion showed in every step he took. The Konoha nin were sitting around the fire while Kakashi gave out sentry duties.

"Naruto since you have the most energy you will take up first watch with Kurenai then Kiba, Sasuke and I will relieve you in few hours. The rest of you get some rest because we have a long day of ahead of us tomorrow." Kakashi said walking to his sleeping bag.

"So Naruto besides the abundance of energy you seem to have why did Kakashi pick you to be a lookout?" Kurenai asked Naruto as they walked to their post.

"Two reasons Kurenai sensei, the first is a secret but I can show the second." Naruto forming a hand seal as six clones popped in existence in front of him.

"I'll let that first part slide but knowing kage bunshin at your age is impressive and being able to create that amount is even more impressive." Kurenai said walking away to scout the area.

"I want you four to secure the perimeter and you two come with me I have something to do." Naruto said running into the darkness.

X-x-X

It was early morning and the group was on the move again. The night before was uneventful, Kakashi decided that they should move and get to their destination early because they couldn't depend on Kishi staying in one place for too long. The genin were well rested and food in their stomach so the jonin decided to move at a faster speed since they didn't have far to go. The shinobi were silent while speeding through the treetops until one of the genin spoke up.

"Kurenai-sensei have you ever been to the land of hot water?" Hinata asked.

"No I have not Hinata, I've been to the border but this is my first time actually stepping foot in this country." Kurenai answered.

"What about you Kakashi-sensei?" Hinata asked looking at Kakashi.

"I've been here many times since the daimyo got rid of their hidden village we get a lot of missions from them." Kakashi answered keeping his eyes forward.

"Why do they need us if they're not a shinobi village anymore?" Kiba asked getting different reactions from his comrades.

"You can't be serious Kiba." Naruto said an incredulous tone. Kiba looked around at everyone and they seemed to have the same look on their face.

"N-no I was just joking around." Kiba said looking down.

"Well just in case you were serious the need for shinobi is high for a place like this." Kakashi said.

"What do you mean Kakashi-sensei?" Shino asked in his monotone voice.

"Yeah sensei what makes this place so special?" Sakura added.

"He means since this place is in between two major villages and one minor one that they have a lot of ninja traveling through here." Sasuke said with a bored look on his face.

"And since they no longer have a ninja village of their own they rely on other villages, mainly us." Naruto finished.

"Ah well put you two, like Sasuke and Naruto said they no longer have a shinobi village but they have been quite successful in their time without." Kakashi said.

"How do you two know so much, I thought Sakura was the bookworm?" Kiba asked.

"Well if you paid attention i-." Sasuke started to retort before Kakashi raised his hand signaling them to stop.

"Kakashi what's wrong why are we stop?" Kurenai asked looking confused. She did have the best senses but as far as she could tell they were alone.

"There was a sudden surge of chakra just now, Naruto do you feel that?" Kakashi asked in a hushed tone. Naruto closed his eyes in concentration for a few seconds before opening them again.

"Yes but's faint and seems to be moving away from us." Naruto whispered getting a look from everyone except Kakashi.

"Hinata do you think you could see them with your Byakugan?" Kakashi asked.

"It's not the strongest but I can try, "**byakugan"**." Hinata whispered as the veins around her eyes bulged.

"Did you see anyone?" Sakura asked.

"No whoever it was is out of my range now." Hinata answered sounding a little disappointed.

Kurenai heard the disappointment in her sole female student's voice. She wanted to tell the girl that she was a big help and she had no reason to be disappointed but now was not the time. They were on their first c-rank mission and it seemed as if they had been spied on.

"Well at least my suspicions were confirmed but we still have to keep moving just be alert." Kakashi said as he started to run again.

"Suspicions what are you talking about Kakashi?" Kurenai asked a little peeved that Kakashi didn't tell her about his "suspicions".

"This morning when we broke camp I felt like I was being watch but I had no proof until now." Kakashi answered.

"But if this person could follow us for this long without revealing themselves why would they risk it now?" Sakura asked.

"My guess would be they were going to warn someone." Kakashi said.

"This was just supposed to be a retrieval mission but it may turn into something." Kurenai said in a serious tone.

"Maybe now I'll get to show how awesome I am." Kiba said a bit loudly.

"You'll have to hold off on that for, we are here." Kakashi said as they stepped out of the forests into beautiful green plains.

The land of hot water was a mix of the different countries surrounding it, it got the plant life of the land of fire and the mountainous terrain of the land of lightning. The village they were headed to was just beyond the border of the land of fire. The village was not a big one a population not even over a hundred, most of the inhabitants were merchants.

X-x-X

"Where are we supposed to be meeting be our contact Kakashi?" Kurenai asked as they checked into their rooms at a small inn called "Spring Haven".

"It's best if I go meet Kishi alone, his lifestyle makes him a very dangerous person and he is not to fond of strangers." Kakashi said in a serious tone.

"So then this guy is your friend?" Naruto asked.

"I wouldn't call him a friend but he's not exactly our enemy either, I'll see you guys when I get back." Kakashi said disappearing.

"We got four rooms, Kiba you're with Shino, Naruto and Sasuke you're together and girls you're with me." Kurenai said handing out the room keys.

"What about Kakashi-sensei?" Sasuke asked.

"Kakashi got himself a room before he left so don't worry about him, just get to your rooms and get yourselves clean." Kurenai said addressing the genin.

X-x-X

(With Shino and Kiba)

"Do you think we'll run into any trouble Shino?" Kiba asked.

"The person who spied on us before is most likely a scout for a larger so I would say yes Kiba-san." Shino replied in his ever so present stoic tone.

"If we do I'll show those bastards not to mess with Konoha." Kiba said aloud.

"We don't know the strength of our enemy so direct confrontation is unwise at the moment." Shino said walking off into the shower.

"Yeah yeah just hurry out the shower." Kiba said throwing himself on his bed.

X-x-X

(With Naruto and Sasuke)

"What do you think Kakashi-sensei meant about our contact not being a friend but not an enemy either?" Sasuke asked with a confused look.

"I don't really know, Kakashi-nii has always been kind of cryptic." Naruto said putting on his night shirt.

"So were you going to tell us that you could sense chakra?" Sasuke asked.

"A shinobi is allowed to have secrets Sasuke but I guess it's not a secret anymore." Naruto said with a sigh.

"Yeah you needed something to be able to keep up with me." Sasuke said with a smirk.

"I guess I would if you were actually ahead of me." Naruto said smirking back.

"Sounds like you need some sleep." Sasuke said lying down. Sasuke was met with silence as Naruto was already out like a light.

X-x-X

(Kurenai, Hinata and Sakura)

"Hinata you it wasn't your fault that the spy got away earlier I hope you know that." Kurenai said getting in big sister mode.

"I know Kurenai-sensei it's just I always come up short when it's my time." Hinata said with her head down.

"Keep your head held high Hinata you have something to be proud about now try and get some sleep." Kurenai said lifting Hinata's head with her hand.

"Okay Kurenai-sensei." Hinata said walking to her bed.

Kurenai walked over to the door to the bathroom and knocked on it, "Sakura you've been in there too long come on out." Kurenai said standing outside the door .

"I'll be out in a minute." Sakura's voice came from inside the shower.

Kurenai walked away mumbling something about fan girls and their bad habits. Sakura finally came out of the shower a few minutes later. Hinata was sleeping and Kurenai seemed to be in a meditative state on her bed. Sakura walked over to her bed and started brushing her hair.

"Sakura." Kurenai said from behind Sakura making her jump.

"Oh you scared me Kurenai-sensei, do you want something." Sakura said still brushing her hair.

"Sakura you are a shinobi now and you need to start acting like it." Kurenai said in a stern tone.

"What do you mean Kurenai-sensei?" Sakura asked genuinely confused.

"The whole trip here I saw you staring at Sasuke and just now you were in the shower for a long time and you used scented shampoo." Kurenai told her.

"But I-." Sakura started before she was cut off.

"But nothing if you want to be a shinobi then start acting like it, now get some sleep we have a big day tomorrow." Kurenai said walking away.

Tears started to fall from Sakura's eyes, she was trying her hardest and everybody kept telling her to do better. She didn't know what she was doing wrong, she cried for a few more minutes until she cried herself to sleep. Hinata had been woken up by the voices, she heard what Kurenai said to Sakura and felt sorry for her but Kurenai was right if Sakura wanted to continue being a shinobi she would have to commit herself to getting better.

X-x-X

The next morning everybody was told to meet in the lobby to discuss the information Kakashi got from their contact. Everybody was there besides one person. Akamaru who sat beside his master barked a few times.

"I know boy, where is that blond bastard?" Kiba asked angrily. Everybody looked at Sasuke since he was Naruto's roommate.

"Don't look at me he wasn't in the room when I woke up." Sasuke said.

"So we have a stray genin on the loose while on a mission?" Kurenai asked getting irritated.

"I'm sure he'll be here soon, don't worry." Kakashi said reading his book.

A few minutes later Naruto casually walked into the lobby with is hands in his pockets. Everybody had their eyes on him as he walked and sat down next to Kakashi.

"Do you mind telling us where you've been Naruto?" Kakashi asked from behind his book.

"I went to get some ramen this morning and a toad gave me a note." Naruto said getting Kakashi's attention.

"What did it say?" Kakashi asked in serious tone.

"I think we should go somewhere private." Naruto suggested.

"That would be a good idea come on everybody let's go to my room." Kakashi said getting up.

Everybody sat around Kakashi's room waiting for Naruto to finish putting up his privacy seals. He had three clones putting seals on the other walls. The three clones disappeared signaling that their job is done, Naruto finished his and sat down with everyone else.

"So Naruto what did the toad say Naruto?" Kurenai asked.

"I think Kakashi should tell us what Kishi told him first." Naruto said.

"I guess that's what we were planning to do anyway." Kakashi said before continuing, "When I met with Kishi he told me that the artifact had been stolen by bandits the day before we got here. He gave me the location of the bandit camp but I'm not sure if you guys are ready for what's needed." He finished.

"Well the note from my dad confirms that it's been stolen but it also said that these aren't just bandits they are being organized by some unknown ninja." Naruto said in a grim tone.

"Did it say anything about these ninja?" Sasuke asked.

"The only thing it said was these ninja wear headbands with music symbols on them." Naruto said.

"You guys might get your first kills if we go through with this, are you all ready for that?" Kakashi asked.

There different reactions from all the genin, Naruto, Sasuke and Shino gave a nod with no hesitation surprising Kurenai. Kiba hesitated before giving his nod as well followed by Hinata. Now all eyes were on Sakura, sweat rolled down the sides of her face her eyes scrunched in thought.

"It's your choice Sakura and if you don't want to we won't do this." Kakashi said softly.

Sakura was scared she didn't know if she could kill if it came to it but she didn't want to be the reason for her friends being held back. When she was young her parents used to go on missions together and when they came back her dad would be hurt, but there was one time where he was really hurt and she cried all night hoping her father would be okay. The injury he received caused him to retire, she went to visit him at the hospital and while he was asleep she promised herself that she would get strong enough to protect her family so this wouldn't happen again. Somewhere along the line she lost herself and now was the time to find herself again.

"I'm in, I want to do it." Sakura said with newfound conviction as she looked at Kurenai who gave her a smile and an approving nod.

"Good, now I'll take Naruto and Hinata to scope this place out and see what we're dealing with." Kakashi said.

"What's so special about this thing that we're supposed to be retrieving?" Kiba asked Kurenai.

"I far as I know it's a special stone from the time of the shodai." Kurenai responded.

"So we're on a mission to bring a rock back?" Kiba yelled.

"I'm sure it's more than just a rock Kiba." Sakura said from beside Kurenai.

"She's right Kiba-san and even if it is just a rock I'm sure it has some value to it." Shino said.

"It doesn't matter our mission is to bring the stone back to the village and that's what we're going to do." Kurenai sternly said.

"I wonder where these shinobi are from I've never heard of a village that has a music note as its symbol." Sasuke randomly blurted out causing his comrades to look at him as if he grew a third eye.

"I was wondering the same thing, Kurenai-sensei do you know anything about these shinobi?" Sakura spoke up for the first time since she agreed to continue the mission.

"No actually this is the first time I'm hearing about these shinobi." Kurenai answered.

"Let's hope Kakashi-sensei, Naruto and Hinata come back with more information than that." Sasuke said walking away.

X-x-X

(Hour Later)

Kakashi and the genin came back and everybody was back in Kakashi's room to hear the information.

"Now that we have everyone here we can brief you all on what we found out, Hinata you can start." Kakashi said stepping out of Hinata's way. She stood and walked to the center of the room.

"The bandits have a camp on the far north edge of the village and they are far enough that we don't have to worry about civilians getting caught in the crossfire. From my observation I counted eighty bandits and five shinobi according on to their chakra levels." She finished walking back to her seat. Naruto stood and walked to the center of the room to take her place.

"From what I observed they have five groups of two simultaneously patrolling the camp. The group consist of the thirty bandits Hinata mentioned before who are not much a threat alone but could cause problems in high numbers. The shinobi who are leading them could cause problems but nothing we can't handle." Naruto said before walking back to his seat.

"Great job you two." Kakashi said standing up, "Now as Naruto said these bandits are average and won't be a problem but I think you should leave the ninja to Kurenai and I." He finished with his patented eye smile.

"So what's the plan sensei?" Naruto asked with his arms folded.

"Ok so this is what we're going to do." Kakashi started.

X-x-X

(Later That Day)

The sun was beginning to go down and the Konoha group was starting to put their plan into action. The bandit camp was hidden among the large trees of the forest on the outskirts of town. From their perch the Konoha ninja could see their enemy casually walking around camp but soon chaos would erupt throughout the camp as the leaf ninja sprang into action.

A shower of shuriken and kunai rained upon the camp. Screams of unfortunate bandits could be heard as their flesh was pierced by the thrown weapons. Team eight could be seen fighting off multiple enemies. Kiba and Akamaru fending off attacks, Bandits dropping at the lack of chakra as kikaichu buzzed around them. Hinata danced around her opponents sealing their tenketsu with a jab of her fingers. An explosion shook the ground causing them to stumble, they looked to the back of the camp to see a fire raging quickly overtaking it's surrounding.

(With Team 7)

"**Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu.**" Sasuke announced before a large fireball left his mouth. The fire dispersed revealing burnt corpse of a few unfortunate men. Sasuke knew that he killed the man who had been hit by the fireball. He had never taken a human life before but he had been exposed to death on a much larger scale. He shook the guilty thoughts out of his mind and moved on to his next victims. He turned to see two men charging him with their swords raised. As soon as they were close enough his right leg buried into the stomach of the one on his left sending him reeling backwards. He jumped backwards to dodge a sword strike, quickly touching the seals on his bracers launching shuriken that were instantly buried in his targets head. A feminine scream grabbed his attention as he sped off to find the source.

Naruto weaved through hand seals as he ran through the camp, he jumped in the air to dodge a group of bandits in front of him. He finished his hand seals at the peak of his jumped, "**Fūton: Renkūdan." **He whispered before compressed balls of air shot from his mouth pounding into the bandits below him. Naruto landed and looked at the mess he just created the bandits were mangled bodies torn apart by the highly compressed chakra laced wind bullets. He had never seen a dead body or taken a life but his parents had prepared him for this moment from a young age. They knew he would be a shinobi, his dad use to tell him that one day he would be task to defend the village and killing would be a part of that. He asked his dad if he ever felt guilty about killing and he told him he did but if he had to do it again he would. He told him that the feeling of his family and friends being safe crushed the guilt every time it bothered him. So he would be like his father, he would kill to keep his precious people safe. He was taken out of his thoughts as a scream rang throughout the camp, he vanished to find the source.

X-x-X

Sakura had sneaking into the back of the camp as she had been instructed as her comrades had been out there fighting risking their lives for the village. Kakashi knew she wasn't ready to take a life so he had tasked her to find the stone while the others kept the bandits occupied. When the fighting started the tents were empty and she began searching, so far she had not found anything and luckily hadn't run into anyone. She spotted a big tent that looked better than the others and figured that it was where the stone would be. She stepped inside, it wasn't anything special but she could tell someone important slept here. The sheets looked better and the quality of the items inside was much better than the other tents. She spotted a box towards the back of the tent, it was a simple wooden box she opened it and inside was a crystal gem. She put it in her pouch turning to leave when a hand on her shoulder stop her. She looked up to a large man with a horizontal scar on his left eye. The man's appearance was enough to make her scream as he covered his ears. His beefy hand slam across her cheek causing the scream to come to a stop.

"Now what would a little girl like you want with that." The man said pointing the stone in her pouch before picking her up by her collar and walking outside the tent. The sight before them was one of chaos, bodies everywhere, fire spreading throughout the camp and weapons sprawled on the ground.

"Now that my team is here we will figure out what to do with you and then we'll find your teammates and wipe you leaf scum out." He said snarling as four figures appeared in front of him. The first was short with long black hair and pale skin. The second was a hulk of a man with orange hair, his gauntlet covered arms were folded and a snarl on his face. The third was an average height man with leering green eyes and an eerie smile on his face. The last one was a woman with red eyes and a permanent scowl on her face. They all wore the same outfit, grey tunic with a purple rope wrapped around their waist.

"Well well what do we have here." The woman said walking towards Sakura and taking the stone from her pouch.

"I caught snooping around in your tent." The scarred man responded.

"Good job Jigumo, what about her team the ones who did all of this?" She asked pointing at the carnage in front of them.

"They are unaccounted for at the-." Jigumo started.

"Looking for us?" Kakashi said as his team stood behind him.

"You should give the girl back if you know what's good for you." Kiba said stepping forward. Kurenai grabbed his arm as he stepped again before she gave him a bone chilling glare.

"You should learn how to control your dog's Sharingan no Kakashi." She said with a glint in her eye.

"Oh so you have heard of me." Kakashi said playfully before becoming serious, "Then you know you won't leave here alive." He finished.

"On the contrary if you want this little whore back then you will stay put while my team and I take this stone back to our master." She said holding the stone in the air.

"Who might your master be?" Kakashi asked.

"I cannot tell you that but I can tell you that the sound is rising and it will tear through the elemental nations.

Kakashi knew he was at a disadvantage they had leverage and he couldn't, no he wouldn't lose a student on their first c-rank mission.

"Fine as it seems we have no choice." Kakashi said surprising the genin of team eight but the others knew Kakashi and they knew he wouldn't do something this reckless without a plan.

"How are you going to let them just take Sakura and the stone like that you coward." Kiba screamed being held back by Hinata and Shino.

"Kiba-san calm down I'm sure Kakashi-sensei has a plan." Shino whispered in his teammate's ear.

"My my isn't he a rambunctious one. I would to stay and help out with inter-village quarrels but we have a mission to complete." She said before turning around and taking off with her team and Sakura.

As soon as they were out of range a heavy pressure fell upon those in the camp. The genin were on their knees holding their throats as if choking although she was standing if you looked at her closely you could see Kurenai's knees were buckling ready to collapse under the pressure at any second. The only one who seemed unaffected was Kakashi as he walked towards Kiba and a whimpering Akamaru.

"Don't you ever in your pathetic life go against a superiors orders again or you will hope that you were never born." He said cutting off his killing intent. The genin gasped for breath as they shakily stood up, Kurenai walked over to Kakashi.

"Was that really necessary?" She asked.

"Yes it was, not only did he question my decision but he did it on a mission in front of our enemy he has to learn to take orders without question. We don't have time for this we have to act fast if we want to get Sakura and the stone back." Kakashi said walking over to the genin.

"So what are we going to do about Sakura sensei?" Naruto asked with his arms once again folded.

"Kurenai I want you to take Shino and Hinata back to town, I'll take the rest and we'll pursue them." Kakashi ordered. Kurenai looked as if she wanted to argue but decided against it Kakashi was leader of this mission.

"Okay come on guys." Kurenai said taking her students with her.

Kakashi and the boys wasted no time in chasing after Sakura and her captors. They had been chasing them for a few minutes in silence but someone decided that silence wasn't good.

"I'm not questioning your choice or anything Kakashi-sensei but why did you bring me and send the rest of my team back?" Kiba asked nervously reminding himself of what happened minutes earlier.

"Your nose will come in handy, since they weren't at camp that means they were coming from somewhere else which means they'll have to take a break and that's when we'll strike." Kakashi said focused on the trees ahead of him.

"So what are we going to do when we get there, they outnumber us." Sasuke said from beside Kakashi.

"Don't worry their numbers will be lowered before any combat starts but when it does you guys will have to team up because these shinobi are above your level at the moment." Kakashi told them.

Kiba suddenly stopped causing everyone else to stop to, "I smell flowers." He said looking confused but looks of relief appeared on the others faces.

"I guess Sakura's fan girl ways finally paid off." Sasuke said.

(With The Sound Ninja)

"Do you really think the legendary Sharingan no Kakashi is going to give up that easy?" The pale man asked.

"No I don't Taro but he won't pursue immediately and when he does come we will be long gone." She said.

"What are we going to do with this little wench Kirai?" The giant asked walked towards Sakura.

"Kill her." Kirai said nonchalantly.

"Too bad sweetheart I was going to show you a good time." He said with a menacing smile raising his hand to smash her skull.

"You sick bastard she's not even-." The green eyed man started to say before a Kunai pierced his mouth from the back of his neck as he dropped dead. Kirai, Taro and Jigumo moved to save their teammates but were stopped by a wall of flame.

The giant didn't get the chance to turn around before a lightning enveloped hand tore through his chest. Kakashi appeared from behind him pulling his hand out and throwing him to the ground. A second Kakashi appeared beside him untying Sakura.

"Sakura I want you to go with this clone, he's going to take you back to town Kurenai is going to be there." Kakashi told her.

"Yes Kakashi-sensei." She said sadly turning to leave with the clone before being stopped by Kakashi.

"Hey Sakura you did a good job." He said eye smiling.

"Thank you sensei." She said before leaving.

"Now to deal with these fools." Kakashi said vanishing into the shadows.

Kakashi appeared above the trees where the genin were. The wall of fire that Naruto and Sasuke created had dissipated **(1). **The sound ninja had a mix of confusion and anger on their faces. He looked to the genin giving them a nod as they jumped down to greet them.

"Give us the stone and we might let you leave here alive." Kakashi said adding a little KI to make a point.

"Do you think that three little genin and one jonin can take on three jonin level shinobi from the Otogakure?" She asked a little offended.

"Well these aren't your everyday genin and I'm not your usual jonin so let me introduce you." Kakashi started, "This is Kiba Inuzuka son of Inuzuka clan Matriarch, Sasuke Uchiha brother of Itachi and cousin of Shisui and last but not least we have Naruto Uzumaki son of Minato Namikaze yondaime hokage and Kushina Uzumaki." Kakashi said pointing at the genin.

"I don't care who you are I'm getting tired of this kill them." She said as Jigumo and Taro sprang forward only to be intercepted by the genin. Seeing the genin able to hold their own against her teammates she turned to run knowing this was a losing battle but didn't make it two steps before a glowing white light blinded her. The light died down to reveal Kakashi standing over a headless Kirai with a glowing white tanto. He bent down and took the stone from her body, he jumped to get a better view of the fight that was going on between the genin and the sound ninja. For now he would spectate but if need be he would step in.

Kiba ducked under a right jab from Jigumo before getting on all fours with Akamaru on his back "**Jūjin Bunshin**." A puff a smoke later revealed two Kiba, but he didn't get a chance to move before a piercing sound reach his ears causing both Kiba to howl in pain. He looked over to see Taro playing a flute.

"Stupid mutt now you have to die." Jigumo said stomping towards.

"I don't think so." Naruto said jumping hitting Jigumo in the face causing him to stumble before Sasuke came and swept his legs from under him. Not wasting time Naruto through a single kunai at Taro before weaving through hand seals turning the single kunai into a hundred.

Taro didn't stop playing but the sound of his tone changed before the kunai could hit a red barrier erected around him. Naruto cursed and created ten kage bunshin as Sasuke started to form more hand seals before Naruto grabbed him and ran in the opposite direction as spikes of earth erupted where he once stood. He looked at Naruto and found two Kiba beside them.

"Thanks Uzumaki." Kiba said.

"No problem but how are we going to deal with these guys while they aren't jonin level like that woman said they are above us in skill." Naruto said.

"It seems that the smaller uses jutsu that revolve around the use of his flute if we get that away from him then it's over for him as for the big guy we can worry about him after we take out the smaller one." Sasuke suggested getting nods from Naruto and Kiba. Naruto blinked as he got the memories of his clones.

"Okay Sasuke how about you use of those fancy wire tricks to get his flute away from him and I'll handle the rest." Naruto said.

"Wait what about me and Akamaru?" Kiba asked.

"Can you use gatsūga?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah but It's not that strong." He said.

"It doesn't matter I need you to distract the big guy for a moment." Naruto told him.

"I can do that let's go." Kiba said excitedly taking off.

"Come on Sasuke let's get this done so we can go home." Naruto said with Sasuke behind him.

Jigumo was angry these little bastards were hiding and these little blond clones kept attack him and Taro. A vicious smile appeared on his face as the genin jumped down in front of him.

"So the kiddies came back to play let's go." He said stepping forward.

"**Gatsūga**." Kiba yelled as he and Akamaru drilled into Jigumo's chest.

Sasuke didn't waste time as his wires latched onto Taro's flute. Taro noticing the wires on his flute began to pull back before but Sasuke had a way to make him let go.

"**Raiton:Shōgeki genkō**." Sasuke announced as lightning arched down the wires electrocuting taro. He fell to the ground convulsing his eyes widened as another rain of kunai fell upon him this time he helplessly struggled as he was pierced by the kunai a few second later he laid dead.

Naruto turn to see Kiba flying his way, he caught him before he could hit the ground. Jigumo was walking there way and he didn't look happy.

"It's over now I'm go-." He started to say before falling unconscious.

His huge body fell to reveal an eye smiling Kakashi. He took a scroll out of one of the pockets on his vest.

"Sensei what are you doing?" Sasuke asked in confusion.

"This is a preservation scroll and we have questions that he has the answers to." Kakashi said as Jigumo's body disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"We should get back Kiba got kicked pretty hard." Naruto said with an unconscious Kiba on his shoulder.

"Yes Akamaru is pretty beat up to." Sasuke said with Akamaru in his arms.

"Yeah no one left without any scratches let's go." Kakashi said looking at his genin who had scratches and cut over their bodies although he himself didn't get touched.

The boys had gotten back to the inn and were met by a worried Sakura at the door. They took Kiba and Akamaru upstairs to rest. Everyone else joined back in Kakashi's room to discuss what happened, Kurenai was a bit surprised that Naruto and Sasuke could kill so easily but then again they weren't your everyday genin. In the end they retrieved the stone which meant a successful mission, Kakashi told everyone to get some rest as they had a long trip ahead of them.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

**This story is getting more views than I expected. Keep it up guys, I'll try my best to keep updating on a consistent basis. I'm in college and I'm taking 24 credit hours so my schedule is pretty packed. I hope the fight scene last chapter was good enough, review and let me know.**

The group had just gotten back to Konoha. After a day of nonstop traveling they were happy to be home although they didn't travel on foot they still just completed their first c-rank mission. Kiba was back up and moving he had just taking a hard hit to the head.

"Naruto your freaking frogs are awesome, I wonder if Akamaru will be able to talk." Kiba thought aloud.

""They're frogs Kiba you better not let them hear you say that, they hate when people call them frogs." Naruto said.

"Settle down kids, you guys can go home Kurenai and I will go debrief with the hokage." Kakashi said before turning to his team. "Team seven meet me at our usual training grounds at 7am." Kakashi said before vanishing in a spark of electricity.

"Same goes for you team eight meet me at our training grounds." Kurenai said vanishing in a cloud of Sakura blossoms.

"Show offs." Kiba mumbled Akamaru barked in agreement.

"I need to go tell my mom about our mission see ya." Naruto said smirking before he his body exploded into water drenching those around him. Sasuke scoffed as if he could do better before disappearing in a torrent of fire.

"Ugh I have to learn that freaking show offs." Kiba angrily said.

"That would be unwise Kiba-san as you would need to become proficient in the shunshin technique first then you would need to find out your elemental affinity then you would need to train it." Shino finished surprising his friends.

"Shino I have never heard you say so much, I-I have to go." Sakura said walking away.

Kiba walked away mumbling something about know it all Aburame and show offs. It left Hinata and Shino standing there.

"I would like to inform my parents of our recent success, goodbye Hinata-san." Shino said before turning around and walking away.

Hinata stood there alone thinking to herself although she didn't get to do much she was a big part in getting information on the bandits. She wanted to get home and tell her family about her first c-rank mission.

X-x-X

(Hokage's Office)

Kakashi and Kurenai stood in front of the Hokage. They were proud of their student's performance on their first c-rank mission although there some bumps in the road the mission was still a success.

"So how did the mission?" Minato asked from behind his desk.

"It was a success we were able to take out a bandit group and retrieve the stone." Kakashi said placing the stone on the desk.

"The bandits were being led by shinobi from an unknown village." Kurenai added.

"Ah you must mean the sound shinobi." Minato said.

"Yes do you know anything about them sensei?" Kakashi asked.

"Just that they started popping up all over the place a few months ago recruiting people into their forces and at first I thought nothing of it until I got reports that entire clans were leaving with them." Minato answered.

"Well I have one of the sound shinobi in a preservation scroll let's hope we can get some information out of him." Kakashi said.

"Good job as always overachieving." Minato said as he smiled at his student.

"I'm just doing my job sensei." Kakashi modestly responded.

"Enough of that tell me how the genin performed." Minato said instantly getting serious. Kakashi and Kurenai shared a look before nodding.

"They performed exceedingly well although they hesitated to kill the bandits they fought with the exception of Naruto and Sasuke." Kurenai said before getting a confused look on her face, "By the way what happened to the bandits that weren't killed?" Kurenai asked looking at Kakashi.

"After you guys left I sent a clone to the camp who destroyed it and made sure it looked like nothing was ever there." He answered.

"Well you can't expect genin fresh out the academy to kill so easily they have to let their minds mature." Minato sagely said.

"What about Naruto and Sasuke it seemed as if they have been doing it their whole life." Kurenai said.

"Those two are exceptions Kushina and I made sure that Naruto would be ready for every aspect of the shinobi life and Sasuke the same but when his clan was massacred with the exception of a few, death became a part of his life even more so than other shinobi." Minato explained.

"I have an idea about the stone but tell me what's so special about it." Kakashi said.

"I'm sure you figured it out but if you didn't, this is the same stone that the shodai's necklace was made from but this piece is different." Minato said electing a gasp from Kurenai and curious look from Kakashi.

"What makes this piece so different?" Kakashi asked.

"This piece can suppress and absorb biju chakra." Minato said. The jonin in front of him as well as the ones hidden in the shadows grew wide eyes.

"Do you think that whoever is in charge of the sound ninja knew about this?" Kurenai asked recovering from her shock.

"I would think so but it could have been taken just for its value but we have to assume they did know." Minato answered.

"Then we're lucky we got it back." Kurenai said.

"Kakashi you take the prisoner to the T&I division and Kurenai you are dismissed I expect a written mission report from both of you." Minato said with his hokage voice.

"Yes hokage-sama." The jonin said in unison before disappearing.

X-x-X

Naruto had gotten home and found his mom in the kitchen cooking dinner. They talked about his mission and how they fought the ninja. He told her he had gotten his first kills although she knew this day would come she was still a worried mother. Her thirteen year old son had killed but she knew he would be fine she and Minato made sure of that. She was taken out of her thoughts by Naruto waving his hand in front of her.

"What is it honey did you want something?" She asked.

"I asked you if you could practice my kenjutsu with me." He said.

"Not today Ruto-kun I have to finish this food." Kushina said walking back to the stove.

"Okay I'm going to see if Sasuke is up for some training, be back later." Naruto said walking out the door.

The Uchiha compound was on the far east side of Konoha. After the massacre there were only ten Uchiha left, seven were on missions, Itachi and Shisui were in a meeting with Minato and Sasuke was spending the night at Naruto's house. No one knows who did it but whoever did was in and out before anyone realized it but they're speculations that it was an inside job as two Uchiha were unaccounted for after the massacre. Naruto was shaken out of his thoughts as he heard something. In front of him stood two dark haired men, presumably Uchiha.

"Is there something I can do for you?" The taller one said.

"I'm here to see Sasuke." Naruto responded folding his arms.

"Sasuke-sama is busy training with Itachi-sama so you can leave." He the other one spoke up.

"Let the kid in and stop being assholes." A man said with short spikey black hair sitting atop the wall.

"As you wish Shisui-sama." The tall said opening the gate.

"It's good to see you again Naruto, it's been awhile how have you been?" Shisui asked walking with Naruto.

"I'm good Shisui, how have you been?" Naruto asked arms still folded.

"You know an assassination here and an assassination there." He said casually.

"Sounds great." Naruto said awkwardly.

"Here to train with Sasuke?" Shisui asked.

"Yeah I need help-." Naruto started before Shisui grabbed him and disappeared. They appeared at an apparent training ground, Sasuke was seen fighting against what could be a twin just taller. The taller one noticed the newcomers and jumped back from Sasuke.

"Naruto-san it's been awhile what brings you here." He said in a monotone voice.

"I came to see if Sasuke wanted to help me train my kenjutsu." Naruto said.

"Normally I would jump at the chance to train with you but Itachi thought that today would be a great day to not hold back." Sasuke said with bruises and cuts all over him.

"Little brother you told me about your mission and said you wanted to get stronger." Itachi shot back.

"I didn't say kick my face in." Sasuke yelled before walking away.

"Pain is the weakness leaving your body." Itachi said following after Sasuke.

Naruto stood there with his mouth open. He had come here to see if Sasuke wanted to train only to be left standing alone. He would just go home and wait for his dad to come home. He turned to leave until a Shisui spoke up he had almost forgotten he was there.

"I can help you train your kenjutsu if you want." Shisui suggested.

"That's fine with me." Naruto said touching a seal on his wrist causing a puff of smoke. The smoke dissipated to reveal two swords on his back one over his right shoulder and one horizontally across the small of his back coming out on the left side.

"Ah the famous Uzumaki daisho, it's an honor." Shisui said bowing.

"So you've heard of the Susanoo no Te?" Naruto said looking at the swords in his hands.

The first one was a katana the right hand, it was made of a rare black metal found in the once Uzushiogakure. You could see intricate markings along the blade the guard was in the design of a whirlpool making it look like the blade was being swallowed by the handle which was wrapped in a dark blue material with the Uzumaki swirl embroidered on it. The second one was a wakizashi it looked exactly the same as the first besides the size difference.

"I don't know much about them but I know they are dangerous." Shisui said pulling his tanto out.

"You have no Idea." Naruto said before disappeared from sight.

He reappeared next to Shisui swinging the katana down, Shisui blocked without looking before disappearing himself. The next second Naruto had cuts all over his body as Shisui appeared in front of him kicking him away.

"I forgot you were so fast but I'm fast too." Naruto said disappearing again.

This time he appeared above Shisui "**Uzumaki Ryu: Shinku nami**." Naruto said swinging the blade down. Shisui brought his tanto up to block creating a massive shockwave causing dust to fly in the air. The dust settled to reveal Naruto with his sword in the ground and Shisui nowhere to be found. Naruto looked around seeing nothing he turned to look elsewhere when something cold touched his neck.

"Yield." Shisui said sending chills down Naruto's spine.

"I yield." Naruto said as Shisui let him go.

"I see you two are having fun." Itachi said from the entrance with a couple Uchiha behind him including Sasuke with their Sharingan spinning ready to pounce at any moment.

"What was that boom we heard?" Sasuke asked from beside Itachi.

"That was Naruto breaking my tanto." Shisui said holding up his broken tanto.

"Sorry about that, I can get you a new one." Naruto said as Shisui waved him off.

"No need this gives me an excuse to use my father's blade now if you excuse I have to clean myself off." He said walking away covered in dust.

"Impressive Naruto-san not many people live long enough to fight Shisui let alone close enough to break his blade." Itachi said turning to leave, the other Uchiha followed but Sasuke stayed.

"Those are nice blades why didn't you use them on the mission?" Sasuke asked.

"It honestly slipped my mind." Naruto said sealing the weapons.

"I guess I'll see you tomorrow then." Sasuke said walking away.

"You know it." Naruto said before disappearing into thin air.

X-x-X

(Next Day)

The streets of Konoha were full with street merchants, sightseeing tourists and a young blond in a hurry. Naruto had woken up late and was currently twenty minutes late to meet his team. To make it worse his mom lectured him about being more responsible now that he was a shinobi which took longer than he would like. He arrived to find Sasuke practicing his throwing technique on the training post and Sakura sitting cross legged in a meditative state. Sasuke noticed him and walked over to him while Sakura sat still.

"So you finally decided to show up?" Sasuke said smirking.

"What's up with her?" Naruto said pointing a thumb at Sakura.

"She was like that when I got here." Sasuke said shrugging his shoulders.

"She's doing an exercise I showed her." Kakashi said walking up behind them.

Sakura's hand twitched before her eyes started fluttering open. Yesterday on her way home she ran into Kakashi and they had a talk about her getting serious about being a kunoichi and he showed her a meditation exercise to help her get in sync with her chakra.

"So what's the plan for today sensei?" Sakura asked.

Naruto and Sasuke shared a look, he couldn't put his finger on it but Sakura seemed different. He couldn't put his finger on it but whatever it was it was a good change.

"I have something different for all you but I have something to do myself." Kakashi said as he felt a ping of chakra from his shoulder.

"Then who's going to train us?" Sakura asked a bit peeved.

"These handsome gentlemen right here." Kakashi said as three copies of him appeared next to him.

"So are you going to tell us what you're going to be teaching us?" Sasuke asked.

"Nope but they will." Kakashi said pointing at the clones before disappearing.

"I wonder what he is up to." Naruto thought aloud walking away with one of the clones.

"No matter how long I've known him he gets weirder every day." Sasuke said vanishing into the forest with his clone.

Sakura was left alone in the clearing with the last clone that was busy flipping a kunai. She didn't have a normal team by any means but they were her team. She walked over to the clone and tapped him on the shoulder.

"So what are you supposed to be teaching me?" She asked.

"First of all we need to address your fighting skills." The clone answered.

"Why would we do that I'm never going to be on the frontlines like Naruto and Sasuke." Sakura complained.

"Wrong it's the exact opposite, while you won't be the first choice this team will be in all types of situations and you have to be ready for it." He explained. Sakura thought about it and remembered she wanted to change for the better so she wouldn't question her sensei anymore.

"I understand sensei." Sakura said with fire burning in her eyes. "_Shānnarō we got this!" _Inner Sakura chimed in.

"Good now let's get to work." The clone said getting into a fighting stance.

X-x-X

(With Sasuke)

Sasuke stood in the clearing as the clone hands flipped through hand seals. His hands came to a halt as he raised his hand in the air as hawks made of lightning sprung forward hitting a tree destroying it in the process.

"That was a jutsu a close friend from Sunagakure taught me during the war." The clone said.

Sasuke's eye widen for a second before reverting back to his usual Uchiha scowl. Sasuke still kept his guard up he couldn't show that an Uchiha was impressed by such a jutsu. Although there weren't many Uchiha left he had to show that they were still the strongest.

"You seem unimpressed." The clone said walking towards Sasuke.

"I've seen better." Sasuke replied.

"Then you don't want to learn it, that's fine with me." The clone said turning to walk away.

Sasuke wanted to keep up his Uchiha façade but that was a jutsu that fit him. He fought back the Uchiha pride and called out to his teacher.

"Wait sensei, I never said I didn't want to learn it." He said.

"Ah that's what I thought." The clone said turning back around.

X-x-X

(With Naruto)

"What ya got for me Kakashi-nii?" Naruto asked with his arms folded once again.

"I hear that you been working on some new seals, care to show me?" The clone asked.

"Sure here they are." Naruto says pulling out two pieces of paper, one light blue and the other white.

"What do they do?" Kakashi says eyeing the seals curiously.

"This one when activated shoots a beam of chakra the size of the beam depends on the amount of chakra used when activated." He said pointing at the blue one. "And this one is paralysis seal." He said holding up the white one.

"Sounds like you don't need any help." The clone inquired.

"Well I've got the chakra beam seal down but I need to find a way to add chakra to the paralysis seal without it burning out." Naruto told the clone.

"You happen to be in luck, binding seals are my specialty." The clone said taking the seal from Naruto.

(With Kakashi)

Kakashi stood in front of his sensei's empty desk with two other jonin. A dark grey haired man stood on Kakashi's right side while a man with auburn hair that reach his back stood on his left.

"What do you guys think this is about?" The auburn haired man asked getting the attention of the other two jonin.

"I'm perplexed myself what could be so dire that hokage-sama would need to call on two of his strongest jonin no offence Santa-san." The grey haired man said.

"None taken Hayama-san, it's an honor two work beside men such as yourselves." Santa replied

"I have an idea but-." Kakashi said before being interrupted by a gust of wind. Minato appeared in front of them sitting at his desk.

"I'm sure you gentlemen have questions but you will wait until I'm finished, is that understood." Minato said in his hokage voice.

"Hai hokage-sama." The jonin chorused.

"I've called you three here because I just received word that a village on the northern edge of the land of fire has been destroyed by an unknown force." Minato said with venom in his tone.

"Destroyed as in can be rebuilt?" Santa asked curiously.

"Destroyed as in nothing is left of it but there are two young boys who survived being held at our outpost near there." Minato explained to them.

"I still don't see the need for three jonin." Kakashi said what they all were thinking.

"The ninja stationed at the outpost have felt huge burst of chakra around the area that's where you two come in." Minato said pointing at Kakashi and Hayama. "Santa is going because the boys are in a coma like state" He finished.

"When do we leave hokage-sama?" Hayama asked.

"Immediately, your destination is the northwestern post." Minato commanded.

The jonin nodded, Hayama and Santa disappeared in a seal less shunshin. Kakashi remained there standing in front of his sensei. His shoulders dropped and his body language became relaxed.

"Sensei what about my team?" Kakashi asked.

"I've already taken that into consideration and its being taken care of right now." Minato answered.

"I understand sensei." Kakashi said before disappearing.

Kakashi appeared in front the north gate. Hayama and Santa stood there waiting for him ready for the mission. Kakashi knew this mission had to be serious for his sensei to send him and Hayama together. Kakashi himself was S-rank and Hayama was A-rank whatever or whoever destroyed that village must have set the hokage on edge.

(Back with team 7)

Naruto had just finished improving his paralysis seal when something hit him in the back of the head knocking him out. He felt something tight wrapped around him, he looked down to find himself tied to a training post. He heard some mumbling around him he turned to find his teammates in the same predicament.

"Do you guys know what's going on?" Naruto asked his teammates.

"No one moment I was practicing genjutsu with the clone and the next I'm here." Sakura answered.

"Same here, except it was a new lightning jutsu." Sasuke said.

"That's weird, who-." Naruto was cut off by a cloud of smoke appearing in front of them.

A sudden gust of wind blew the smoke away. The wind revealed two men with black hair and black eyes. They stood side by side on their arms was the symbol for the military police. Sasuke took a look at them making his eyes widen.

"Itachi, Shisui what are you two doing here?" Sasuke basically yelled.


	5. Chapter 5

**I know it's been a while but things get busy for me sometimes. I appreciate those have been consistent with reading and reviewing my story from the beginning thank you guys and there is a poll on my profile you guys should check it out. Now without further ado a short chapter five but nonetheless chapter five.**

Chapter 5

The silence at training ground one was awkward one. Itachi and Shisui stood silent, their dark eyes focused on the genin in front of them. Naruto was getting restless and decided to break the silence.

"Would you mind telling us why we are tied up?" Naruto calmly asked.

"It's part of your training." Itachi said as if it was obvious.

"What training and where is Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked.

"Pink hair is unbefitting of those who live the shinobi lifestyle." Shisui stated ignoring her question.

"I would agree cousin, with hair like that she wouldn't last a second on a real mission." Itachi added.

"Since this is training why are we sitting around chatting?" Sasuke asked.

"Yeah I'm with Sasuke, let's have some fun." Naruto said smirking.

The two unbound Uchiha along with Sakura were confused at why Naruto was smirking. A few seconds later their question was answered. Two Naruto clones appeared behind Itachi and Shisui, without of even turning around the two Uchiha dispatched the clones with well-placed kunai.

"Nice try Naruto-san but you know you have to do better than that." Itachi said.

"I was hoping to catch you two off guard but I know better, but don't worry that wasn't the end." Naruto said before launching himself at the two.

Sasuke was up in an instant flipping through hand seals launching multiple fire balls at his brother and cousin. Itachi countered with his own cancelling the jutsu out, Shisui appeared in front of Naruto kicking him in the chest sending into a tree knocking him unconscious. Sasuke seeing himself at a disadvantage decided to retreat. He turned to go into the forest but bumped into something. Before he could recover something hard hit the side of his head knocking him out.

Sakura couldn't help but stare wide eyed at the situation in front of her. Her teammates who she had seen take on the sound ninja easily had just been destroyed by these two men. Her heart was threating to jump out her chest as the two men walked towards her.

"We haven't been properly introduced I am Itachi Uchiha head of the military police." Itachi said.

"And I'm Shisui Uchiha co-head of the military police." Shisui added.

Sakura sat there still tied to the post silent, not knowing what to say her heart still beating fast. She was still in shock, if her teammates got beaten so easily what would happen to her. She was snapped out of her thoughts by hand in her face.

"It's quite rude to just sit there in silence." Shisui said.

"She seems to be in shock Shisui." Itachi added in his monotone voice.

"I-I'm Sakura Haruno." She finally managed to squeak out.

"So you can talk." Shisui said earning a glare from Itachi. "What I'm just having fun, I'll go get Naruto and Sasuke." He said disappearing.

"What was the point of you two beating up Sasuke-kun and Naruto?" Sakura asked.

"Those two aren't challenged by their peers so those close to them challenge them so they won't become complacent." Itachi said cutting Sakura loose.

"You never told us where Kakashi-sensei was." Sakura told him.

"Everything will be revealed soon enough." Itachi said as Shisui appeared with Naruto and Sasuke over his shoulders.

Shisui sat the two down, he pulled out a kunai and flipped it to the blunt side. Electricity started to jump from the kunai, he touched it to Sasuke's chest and the same with Naruto. They both jumped up as if under attack.

"I'm glad you two could join us." Shisui said

"Now that you two are awake we have things to discuss." Itachi told them.

"Yeah you have a lot to explain." Sasuke said.

"Kakashi was called on to take a mission and we were called here in his place until he returns." Itachi stated.

"It must be serious for my dad to call on Kakashi-nii so suddenly." Naruto said with calculating eyes.

"Do you know anything about the mission he's on?" Naruto asked.

"No, hokage-sama hasn't said anything to us but enough of that let's get to the reason we're here." Itachi said activating his sharingan.

(With Kakashi)

They were a few hours from reaching their destination. The northwestern post was home to team 210 of the nijū shōtai which consisted of jonin Kibishi Rida, chunin Heikin Buredo, chunin Osoi Gakashu and chunin Idate Morino. His thoughts wondered to the mysterious force that destroyed the village. Who could be bold enough to attack a village in the land of fire. He would have to wait until they arrived and Santa could extract the information.

"_Let's hope that we can get something from those kids."_ Kakashi thought to himself.

(Later that day)

Team seven could be seen trudging through the streets of Konoha. Sakura sporting cuts and bruises all over her body, Sasuke limping and Naruto holding his left side grimacing in pain with every step. They hadn't trained this hard since before they took that c-rank mission. They decided to get something to eat before going home so they were headed to Naruto's favorite place, Ichiraku's Ramen much to his delight. As soon as Naruto stepped through the door his ear drums were assaulted by a loud voice.

"Naruto, it's been a while it's good to see you." A middle-aged man said from behind the counter.

"It's good to be back Teuchi-oji san." Naruto replied with his signature grin.

"I see you've brought friends this time." Teuchi said looking at Sasuke and Sakura.

"Yes these are my teammates Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno." Naruto said pointing at his teammates.

"It's nice to meet you sir." Sakura said bowing. Sasuke just gave Teuchi an affirming nod.

"Such nice kids, what will you three be having tonight?" Teuchi asked them.

"I'll have my usual." Naruto answered.

"I'll have two orders of miso ramen with a side of onigiri." Sasuke said.

"I just want an order of steam vegetables." Sakura said earning the ire of her teammates.

"Is that it?" Naruto asked looking at her.

"What?" She asked confused.

"We just spent a whole day training and all you're going to order are steam vegetables?" Sasuke asked.

"It's my body and I decide what goes in it." Sakura told them with a little force in her tone. She's surprised herself by talking back to them like that, she could tell they were surprised too by the look in their eyes.

"Hn." Sasuke grunted turning back around.

"Fine suit yourself." Naruto added.

A few minutes later Teuchi came back with their food. They ate in silence, the only time sound was heard was when Naruto asked for them to bring some more ramen. Soon they were done eating and they got up to leave when they bumped into some familiar faces coming into the door.

"What a surprise find you guys here." Shikamaru said sarcastically.

"I would say the same for you three." Naruto shot back.

"Yakiniku Q is closed for the moment so we came here." Choji said walking towards the counter.

"Oh you came to the best place in the village for food." Naruto said.

"Do you guys think we should break that up?" Sasuke asked pointed at Sakura and Ino who were pushing each other back with their foreheads.

Sakura and Ino had been close friends when they were younger but things started to change as they got older. In their third year of the academy their class was dropped off in the middle of a forest and told to survive until they were picked up by their teachers. Sakura and Ino decided that if they teamed up then they had a better chance of survival. It had been three days and they had seen no one else from their class, they found a pond to drink water from but they hadn't been lucky enough to find food. On the night of the third day they were attacked by a group of ninja. After that night their friendship was never the same.

"Do you two have to do this every time you see each other?" Naruto asked pushing them apart.

"Ino thinks she's better than everyone." Sakura said a bit loudly.

"No I don't think I'm better than everyone, just you." Ino said before walking back to her team.

Sakura sighed in frustration and stormed off, Naruto looked at Sasuke who shrugged before disappearing in a wisp of fire. Naruto shook his head he knew this could become a big problem if they let it continue.

"_Maybe I should ask mom about this she might know what to do." _Naruto thought to himself.

He waved goodbye to team ten and began his trek home. As he walked home he took some time to look at the villagers walking the streets. He saw an elderly man with a walking stick scolding two little boys, a family of three with smiles on their faces and a multitude of villagers talking to street vendors. He couldn't help but smile, these people were part of the reason he chose to become a shinobi. He wanted to protect those who couldn't protect themselves, so they could walk the streets of their village and have a family day. As he was walking he saw a large group walking through the western gate, from the symbols on their hitaite they were from Takigakure.

"Hmm so it's that time of year again." Naruto said to himself before he began walking again.

X-x-X

Naruto made it home to find his mother and surprisingly his father in the kitchen. It was rare for Minato to be home in the middle of the day. He was usually in meetings or doing paperwork but he was here now.

"Ruto-chan how did you like your training today?" Minato asked with a smile on his face.

"Nothing I couldn't handle, I've had worse." He answered.

"Minato at least let him in the door before you start teasing him." Kushina said scolding him.

"Alright, I have to go anyway the village is starting to get a little crowded." Minato said putting on his signature haori.

"I've noticed I saw a group of Takigakure ninja on the way here." Naruto added.

"So it's time for the chunin exams again, always an exciting time of the year." Kushina said with a smile.

"Yeah but unfortunately I have a lot of work to do, see you later." Minato said kissing Kushina and hugging Naruto before flashing away.

When her husband left she looked to her son to see a crestfallen face, she hated when he couldn't see his father because of his work. Naruto did hide it well most of the time she could never tell when he was sad or not.

"Naruto your father wants to be home with us but-." Kushina started to say.

"What are you talking about?" Naruto asked looking at his mom as if she grew a third eye.

"Well when your dad left your face seem to just drop." Kushina explained.

"Not because he left." Naruto responded.

"If it's not because he left, then why?" Kushina asked trying to find out what was wrong with her son.

"I know dad went to go meet with the jonin sensei about nominating their teams for the chunin exam." Naruto answered.

"And since Kakashi isn't here he can't nominate your team." Kushina finished.

"Yes and I have a feeling that he wasn't going to nominate us anyway." Naruto added.

"Well you can't expect to make chunin as a rookie genin." Kushina told him.

"Dad did it and so did Kakashi-nii." Naruto responded.

"Those were different times, there's no need for early promotion." Kushina shot back.

"They didn't get it because of war they got it because they deserved it." Naruto said a little bit heatedly before walking off.

Kushina sighed she knew this was a touchy subject for Naruto. All his life Naruto had been around elite shinobi, in fact some of the strongest shinobi in the world and that became the bar for him. He expected to surpass them in every aspect.

X-x-X

Kakashi and his fellow jonin had made it to the outpost yesterday, things happened and now Kakashi was chasing a group of spies through fire country. When they arrived they were met by two shinobi.

(Flashback)

_Kakashi and co had just arrived outside the northwestern post when two shadowy figures jumped down in front of them. One of them had slender frame while the other was bulky, the slender figure stepped forward._

"_Halt, state your name and business." He said._

"_Kakashi Hatake, here on official business." Kakashi said stepping forward making his hitaite gleam in the moonlight._

"_Hayama Shirakumo." Hayama announced bowing his head._

"_Santa Yamanaka." Santa said stepping forward as well. _

_The two figures seem to tremble as Kakashi walked by them. Frozen in place Kakashi decided to leave them there in get down to business. He walked into the building knowing his way around since he spent a lot of his time during the war in outpost. They made their way to the command room where two men sat talking to each other. He and the other jonin stood their listening._

"_You know they might send another team here with all that's going on." The older looking man said._

"_That should have been done a long time ago and you know it Kibishi." The younger responded._

"_Yeah but I heard they were sending three jonin." Kibishi said in a whispered tone._

"_Three jonin, is this situation really that bad?" The younger man asked with a look of surprise on his face._

"_I don't know Idate but whatever destroyed that village left no trace of it ever being there." Kibishi said with a hint of worry in his tone._

_Kakashi decided it was time to step in, whatever happened really had these shinobi worried and if he could help it his fellow Konoha ninja wouldn't lose morale._

"_And that's why we are here gentlemen." Kakashi said startling the two._

_Kibishi and Idate tensed before turning to see three men, two easily recognizable the third was a mystery._

"_Well if it isn't the __inazuma kurō __no Kakashi and __shinkūjin no Hayama, so you two are the ones they sent." Kibishi said looking relieved. _

"_Yes and my friend Santa Yamanaka here." Kakashi said pointing to Santa._

"_My apologies, nice to meet you Yamanaka-san I am Kibishi Rida jonin of Konohagakure." Kibishi said shaking Santa's hand._

"_It's a pleasure to meet you as well." Santa responded._

"_Now that we are all acquainted well at least most of us, can you show us where the children are?" Kakashi asked looking at Idate for a brief moment._

"_Yes follow me it's this way." Kibishi said walking out of the room with the others following._

_They walked to a small room at the back of the outpost and inside were two small boys on two beds. The first boy had brown hair while the other one had black hair. The group walked in and gathered around the boys._

"_So how did you find them?" Santa asked looking at the children._

"_Well we've been feeling minor chakra spikes for about a month now but whenever we get to the location it's empty as if nothing was ever there." Kibishi started._

"_Have you reported this to hokage-sama?" Hayama asked him._

"_Yes and he's sent some shinobi but they get the same results as us." Kibishi answered._

"_That's odd let's hope we can do better." Santa added._

"_As I was saying we keep getting minor chakra spikes but the other day we got a huge one and by the time we got to the village it was nothing left but these two boys." Kibishi finished._

"_So we have no idea who or what destroyed that village?" Kakashi asked speaking up for the first time. _

"_No not at all, the only ninja village close enough to be a suspect would be Takigakure and we all know they wouldn't risk war with us." Kibishi answered. _

"_Santa it looks like you're up." Kakashi told his subordinate._

"_I'll do all I can sir." Santa said placing a hand on each of the boy's heads._

"_You might want to take a seat this could take a while." Kakashi said sitting down pulling a familiar pink book._

_Thirty minutes later a scream could be heard through the forests of Konoha. Kakashi jumped up and was at Santa's side in an instant catching him before he hit the ground._

"_Santa what's wrong? What happened?" Kakashi asked calmly._

"_Boys….monsters….experiments…explosion." Santa mumbled out before falling into unconsciousness._

"_We need to get him back to the village for medical attention and fast." Kakashi said picked his fellow jonin up and put him over his shoulder and commanded Hayama to pick up the boys. They all began to walk out the building and Kakashi and his group was ready to head back to the village when Kakashi stopped and look towards the trees behind them. The branches were shaking and leaves were falling, Kakashi shook his head, when did shinobi become so sloppy. _

"_Kibishi I need you to go get Idate for me." Kakashi said setting Santa down._

"_So what are we going to do? Are we going to chase them?" Hayama asked._

"_No you're going to get Santa and the boys back to the village while I catch these clumsy bastards." Kakashi said flipping through hand seals then biting his thumb and slamming his palm on the ground._

_A plume of smoke erupted from the spot he slammed his palm on, from the smoke emerged eight animal figures. The smoke blew away to reveal eight dogs varying from mastiff to pug. _

"_Long time no see Kakashi." The small pug spoke up from atop a large black dog._

"_Sorry guys but there is no time for chit chat I need you guys to escort Hayama and another ninja back to the village." Kakashi said as Kibishi came back with Idate._

"_No problem boss, consider it done." A tan dog said. _

"_Thank you Akino, now Idate I need you to go with Hayama and carry these two boys back to the village." Kakashi told Idate._

"_Back to the village?" Idate asked._

"_Yes is there a problem?" Kakashi asked._

"_No-no problem at all." Idate said picking up the two boys._

"_Good now hurry up and go." Kakashi commanded before running in the direction of the spies._

_(End Flashback)_

Kakashi had silently followed the spies to a small camp near the edge of the fire/grass border. The four that he was chasing met up with a man who was the presumably the leader. He couldn't really get a good look at the man but the swords on his back looked very familiar.

Kakashi decided to make himself known. He jumped down and walked out into the clearing. The lead man was talking to his men but suddenly tensed up and turned around to face Kakashi.

"Now what would a former swordsman of the mist be doing in fire country?" Kakashi asked

"I'm doing what my employer told me to do." The swordsman answered.

"Was he the one who told you to destroy that village?" Kakashi asked pulling his glove on tighter.

"In fact he did but it doesn't matter now does it." He said pulling the weapons off his back.

"So it's a fight you want, I thought you were smarter than that." Kakashi said getting in a fighting stance.

"You weaklings stay out of this, this is my fight." The man said turning around to find his subordinates with their throats slit. He growled and turned back towards Kakashi who shrugged. He looked down at his weapons one more time before dashing forward meeting Kakashi's kunai.


	6. Chapter 6

**How are my dear readers? I would like to take the time to thank those who have stuck with this story from the beginning, you guys are great and part of the reason I write. The story is about to start getting serious and you will see serious deviations from canon and the consequences of the changes being made. There will be some revelations in this chapter that you may or may not like.**

**Chapter 6**

Kunai met sword in flash of sparks, Kakashi seem to have the upper hand as he pushed the man back. They had been fighting for a couple minutes and he had already begun to become bored, it was time to get serious. He jumped away to create some space for his technique, he put away his kunai and brought his right hand to his side. Lightning started forming in his hand along with a loud screeching sound cutting through the clearing.

"It's time to end this Raiga." Kakashi said looking at Raiga.

"You must forget lightning is my element as I hold the fangs of the Raijin himself." Raiga said as the swords in his hands were imbued with lightning.

"We'll see about that." Kakashi said speeding forward.

Raiga narrowed his as Kakashi sped forward he raised his legendary blades in the air as Kakashi closed in on him. Kakashi was mere inches away from plunging his lightning covered hand into his chest as two lightning bolts fell from the sky onto Kakashi causing dust to obscure his vision. He jumped away just to be safe as a smile crept upon his face but it was quickly replaced with a scowl as the dust cleared and revealed Kakashi to be unscathed.

"Have you forgotten who you're dealing with, if so let me remind you." Kakashi said disappearing from view.

"Where did he-." Raiga said turning around as Kakashi appeared stabbing his hand right above his heart.

"Raikiri no Kakashi." Kakashi whispered into his ear before pulling his hand out of Raiga's chest. "Before you die tell me who destroyed that village?" Kakashi asked the dying man.

Raiga began laughing to the confusion of Kakashi. Kakashi felt a large buildup of chakra coming from Raiga so he jumped away to create some distance. Black lines started appearing on Raiga's face as he shakily stood up.

"My employer gave me powers to ensure that I wouldn't be touched by anything less than a kage." Raiga said with a sadistic smile on his face.

"So, it was you who destroyed that village." Kakashi stated.

"It's crazy what a few well-placed lightning bolts can do." Raiga said throwing his swords in the air then flipping through hand seals, "**Ikazuchi no kiba." **He finished as lightning streaked from the swords into the clouds above. Raiga caught the now falling swords, Kakashi gave him no time as he charged forward with Kunai in both hands. Everything seemed to be a blur as the two high caliber went back and forth. The only indication of the battle going on was the sparks flying from the contact of the blades they wielded. Raiga suddenly jumped away as Kakashi managed to give him a deep gash on his chest.

"As much as I would love to cut you open with my blades, I have a schedule to keep so goodbye." Raiga said swinging his weapons downward the moment his swords finished their downward arch a large lightning bolt struck where Kakashi stood, "Forever." He whispered darkly before running away from the land of fire.

The spot where Kakashi once stood was now a crater the only thing left was the Kunai that Kakashi held which was now melted and deformed. Back towards the forested area Kakashi sat in a tree panting trying to catch his breath. His vest and shirt were in tatters and he had a minor burn on his hand.

"T-that…took a lot more chakra than I expected I guess it still needs more work." Kakashi said heading back towards the leaf village.

**X-x-X**

Today was like any other Saturday or at least that's what Naruto thought. He had woken up earlier than everyone in the house. He had planned to go out and train alone since his sensei was not back yet and his team didn't have any training scheduled. He went to the kitchen to fix himself some breakfast and found that he wasn't the only one awake in the house.

"I see you're getting better at suppressing your chakra" Minato asked with his back to Naruto.

"What are you doing up so early dad?" Naruto asked, "I thought you would get all the sleep you could." He said before his dad could respond.

"Well normally that would be the case but with the chunin exams starting today and us receiving more missions than ever I don't have much time to sleep." Minato answered.

"So you're about to go to the office?" Naruto asked his father.

"Yes I am and I'm actually running late." Minato said getting up to leave.

"Could I come with you?" Naruto blurted out before his father could flash away.

Minato was surprised Naruto hadn't asked to come to his office with him since he was a little kid. He couldn't help but smile, he could finally get to spend some time with his son.

"I would like that, come on." Minato said putting his hand on his sons shoulder.

Naruto smiled, he would do anything to get to spend some time with his dad. Minato was the hokage and that meant that the whole village was his family and he didn't get to spend much time at home although he tried to remedy that by using shadow clones to do his work but there were still things that required his personal attention. His smile faded as his dad activated his signature technique causing them to disappear in a yellow flash.

Naruto and Minato appeared in his office, Naruto looked like he was sick. He would never get used to that. Minato laughed at his sons childish antics and walked over to his desk.

"So what are we going to do today dad?" Naruto said finally recovering from his motion sickness.

"Well son first you get to see your dad give out some orders." Minato said smiling, "Owl, Scythe, Panda." Minato called out.

Not a second later did three figures appear in front of Minato. Naruto was silently in awe as he looked at the shadows of the villages, he didn't even sense the three of them until he saw them and they didn't even make a sound. Although he had been around strong shinobi since he was born seeing elite shinobi in action always impressed him. He also knew these three ANBU, they were his father's personal guard and helped look after him when he was a kid.

The one in the owl masked stepped forward, "At your service hokage-sama." He said.

"I need your team to notify the emissaries of the other villages of the meeting in an hour." Minato commanded.

"Hai hokage-sama, you heard the man let's go." Owl said as he and his team vanished.

"So how many foreign ninja are in the village?" Naruto asked with his arms crossed.

"Two hundred and twenty-eight to be exact and there will more when the Kage and their convoy come." Minato said getting to work on the pile of papers on his desk.

"How can you be so calm with so many foreign ninja in the village?" Naruto asked.

"Well son I don't think anyone wants war right now especially with us being allied with Kumo and Suna." Minato answered still focused on the paper in front of him.

"I guess you're right, you and A-sama could probably take on a couple of villages yourselves." Naruto said with look of deep thought.

"Ah don't forget Kazekage-san he's quite powerful himself." Minato said finally looking up, he turned his head towards the window. Kakashi was stepping through the window, Minato and Naruto instantly noticed the condition his clothes were in.

"I see you had some fun of your own." Minato said looking at his student.

"A little, did we get any information from the kids?" Kakashi asked.

Minato's face became serious, his eyes turned from their regular deep blue to ice cold and his shoulders became tense. Naruto saw the change in his father's demeanor, he rarely got to see this side of his dad this was Minato Namikaze the shinobi not Minato Namikaze the father. He saw his father turns towards him and he already knew what that meant.

"Naruto could you excuse Kakashi and I for a moment?" Minato asked.

"Sure I'll talk to Mina-san." Naruto said walking out of the office.

As soon as Naruto shut the doors behind him Minato pressed his hand to his desk causing a sealing formula to spread from his hand to the whole entirety of the office. When the formula reach the edge of the office is glowed a soft blue before fading away.

"It's that serious?" Kakashi asked seeing his sensei putting up his strongest privacy seal.

"Serious enough to be declared an S-class secret." Minato responded.

"So what did we find out?" Kakashi asked sitting down in front of his sensei.

"It seems the village that was destroyed was home to a clan with the ability to become one with the earth and someone we know found out." Minato started.

"Well I found out that Raiga Kurosaki destroyed the village with his legendary blades." Kakashi added.

"I know but he's not a problem it's his employer." Minato said with a hint of venom.

"Raiga has been handled but who's his employer?" Kakashi asked curiously.

"Orochimaru, it seems he's gathering forces for something big." Minato answered. They sat there in silence for the next few minutes until Minato broke the silence.

"You should go talk to Naruto." Minato said.

"Why? Is something wrong?" Kakashi asked.

"Kushina told me they had a little fight because Naruto feels that they should be in the chunin exams." Minato explained.

Kakashi couldn't help but smile, he remembered the days of wanting to prove himself to those around him although he didn't have to prove as much as Naruto. His father was the legendary white fang but Naruto was the son of one of the greatest and strongest ninja in history and he was trained by even more legendary ninja. He would make sure he talked to Naruto but now he needed to rest.

**X-x-X**

It had been a good day so far for Naruto. He spent most of the morning with his father who had just left to go meet with village emissaries. Naruto decided to see what his teammates had planned for the day. His first destination was the Uchiha compound, he arrived to be greeted by a familiar pair of Uchiha. He had learned that they were brothers Hinoiri and Hinode Uchiha. This time they recognized him and let him in but not without staring him down with their sharingan eyes. He went straight to the training grounds and just like he expected he found Sasuke training.

"Hey Sasuke." Naruto yelled making Sasuke jump which cause the shuriken he was attempting to throw to miss his intended target.

"Ah you just can't sneak up on people like that." Sasuke said a little frustrated.

"I guess I am pretty good at sneaking up on people but I thought that nothing could get passed the great sharingan." Naruto said teasing Sasuke.

"Shut up." Sasuke said walking away.

"Wait where are you going?" Naruto asked following him until Sasuke stopped at the door to his house.

"I have to get ready for my training session with Itachi, he's going to show me some sharingan techniques." He said before shutting the door in Naruto's face.

"Kakashi sensei is back just so you know, bastard." Naruto said walking away whispering the last part.

Since Sasuke had other plans he was now tracking down Sakura. As he walked through the streets of the shopping district he noticed a lot of people wearing foreign clothing.

"_Hmm I guess the chunin exams bring more than foreign shinobi to the village."_ He thought to himself as bumped into something soft. He looked in front of him to notice Sakura standing there.

"Hey Sakura I was just looking for you." Naruto said as he felt something tugging at his leg. He looked down to find Ino sitting on the ground, "Ino why are you sitting on the ground." He asked obliviously.

Ino screamed in frustration before Sakura helped her get up. After dusting herself off she got in Naruto's face, which caused him to blush from the close proximity.

"Uh is there something you want?" Naruto asked.

"Yes an apology, if you didn't know I was on the ground because you bumped into me." Ino said emphasizing the word you.

"I'm sorry, now can you get out of my face?" Naruto asked uncomfortable with her being in his face.

Ino noticed the red tint in his cheeks and her whole body language changed. The scowl on her turned to a sultry smile.

"Why? Am I not good enough for the prince of Konoha?" She asked in a flirty voice.

"Uh ah…I…that's not what I meant." Naruto stumbled out.

"Then I am good enough for you?" She asked.

Sakura smiled as she saw her teammate being teased by now again friend decided to help him out. Before Sakura could step in her teammate disappeared in a mist of water leaving a wet Ino.

"Come on you can dry off at my house and then we can talk about what happened." Sakura said to Ino.

**X-x-X**

Naruto had been walking for about half an hour before he decided to go home and see what his mother was doing. When he finally got home it was to an empty, since no one was home he went to his room to sleep. Usually he would have trained but lately he had been feeling tired. As soon as he closed his eyes he felt what he thought was hot air but when he opened his eyes it was clear that he wrong. Starring Naruto in the face was the beast that attempted to destroy his village all those years ago, the nine-tailed fox.

"It's been a while you worthless human." The giant fox boomed.

"What am I doing here, you only drag me in here if it's important?" Naruto casually asked the murderous fox in front of him.

"It seems that you are not the only gracious host in the village." Kyubi said.

"Really, I haven't sensed anything strange in the village." Naruto said a little disappointed in his self.

"Stop feeling sorry for yourself and find out which one of my weak siblings is here." Kyubi roared blowing Naruto back into reality.

Naruto's eye snapped open as he was welcome back to the world of consciousness. He quickly got to his feet and moved towards the door. He was about to step out the door when he heard someone call out to him. He turned around to see his mom standing there.

"Where are you going honey?" She asked standing with her hands on her hips.

"There's another jinchuriki in the village." Naruto said plainly.

"I know your father told me." Kushina said worried how he would react.

"You and dad knew and didn't tell me?" Naruto said trying his best to hide being hurt.

"We didn't know how you would react and your father told me that she is a bit unstable." Kushina explained.

"You don't think I can handle myself?" Naruto asked.

After a few minutes of silence Naruto vanished in a gust of wind. He reappeared outside the gate of his family's compound. He wanted to be mad but he there was no real reason to be mad, his parent had always been overprotective. There was still another jinchuriki in the village and he was going to find them.

"_My range isn't that good yet so how am I going to find them_?" He asked himself.

He began walking towards the area where all the people from different villages stayed but before he could get far someone bumped into him knocking him to the ground.

"What's with people running into me today?" Naruto said looking up to see the culprit.

"Sorry didn't really see you there." Kakashi said continuing to sharpen the weapon in his hand.

"Maybe because you have a FREAKING TAN…hey is that the white chakra sabre?" Naruto asked calming down at the sight of the legendary blade.

"Why yes it is but I didn't bump into you on accident, I believe we need to talk." Kakashi said walking away ushering him to follow.

Naruto quickly got to his feet and dusted himself off before running to catch up with his sensei. Kakashi seemed a little serious just then so he decided the other jinchuriki could wait.

"So what do you want to talk about Kakashi-nii?" Naruto asked catching up.

"Kushina told me that you were upset about not being in the chunin exams." Kakashi said his eyes never leaving his blade.

"I am." Naruto bluntly stated causing Kakashi to sweatdrop.

"Well I didn't expect you to be so upfront about it." He said finally sheathing his blade.

"So why didn't you nominate us?" Naruto asked folding his arms.

"Two reasons." Kakashi said walking ahead of Naruto.

Naruto groaned in frustration as he sped up to catch up with his irritating older brother.

"Are you going to tell me the reasons?" Naruto asked.

"Oh yeah well the first one is I wanted to train you guys a bit more and second the next chunin exams which is two months after this one ends is going to be in Kiri." Kakashi finished.

"What's so special about Kiri?" Naruto asked now curious about Kiri's chunin exams.

"You know Kirigakure just settled their civil war a couple years ago and this is their first chunin exams in nearly two decades and it will be a great experience for you guys." Kakashi said stopping.

"Hmm I guess I forgot about the chunin exams happening two times a year." Naruto said arms still folded.

"Now that we have that out of the way, we have training bright and early don't be late." Kakashi said walking away.

Naruto still had a jinchuriki to find so he continued his way over to his previous destination. When he finally made it there the streets were mostly empty with the exception of a few eager tourists experiencing the night life of Konoha. While walking he expanded his senses as far as he could and he hadn't picked up anything close to the special signature that came with being a jinchuriki.

"What business does the baby flash have in this part of town?" A voice said from above Naruto.

"This is my village and I can go where I please." Naruto said looking up to find a person draped in a black cloak hiding their identity.

"I would think the hokage would advise his son to stay away from foreign shinobi." The cloaked person said jumping down from their perch.

"**That's who we're looking for brat." **The Kyubi said from inside Naruto's head.

"Do you know which of your siblings they hold?" Naruto asked.

"**It would seem that she holds Chomei." **Kyubi responded.

"And I would think that your village leaders would keep their jinchuriki in check." Naruto said to the stranger causing her to visibly tense.

"H-how did you know about Chomei?" She asked taking her hood off revealing mint green hair and luminescent orange eyes.

"I have my ways but I have what I wanted, until we meet again." Naruto said disappearing in a puff of smoke.

The mint haired stranger stood there for a moment with a look of confusion on her face before walking away. Above the ground on the tallest building on the street where darkness swallowed every ray of moonlight sat Naruto his blue eyes following his fellow jinchuriki.

"That is not what I expected, something seemed a bit off about her." Naruto thought to himself.

"**Either Chomei is still mad about the bullying or something is wrong with her seal**." Kyubi said aimlessly.

"What are you rambling about you old fox?" Naruto asked.

"**If you value your life you would change your tone."** Kyubi shot back.

"Your threats became harmless years ago now what were you rambling about." Naruto said smirking. Kyubi muttered something about stupid humans and their worthless lives before answering Naruto

"**Usually when I get close to one of my siblings we develop a mental link and this time it didn't happen." **He answered.

"Maybe her seal is preventing it, the only way to find out is to get close and that's not going to happen." Naruto said mentally.

"**It doesn't really matter we haven't spoken in a hundred years so what's another hundred." **Kyubi said cutting off the mental connection.

"Isn't he a grumpy one." Naruto said jumping across building tops.

Naruto had been wandering around the village for some time before finding out where he wanted to go. He hadn't trained at all today and the weather was nice so he decided he would get some training in before the day was over.

He arrived at his personal training ground his father reserved for him. He decided it would be great to train his kenjutsu in the dark. They say once you become good enough with your weapons that they are not weapons anymore but extensions of your body. It was getting late and the darkness was starting to cover the village.

Naruto activated his seal and the legendary Susanoo no Te appeared in his hands. Their elegant black blades only visible when the moonlight hit them. He put away the smaller blade preferring to use one at a time. He gripped the blade with hands, closed his eyes and took a deep breath before going through basic sword exercises. He didn't really have a style yet so he just used the training he received from Kakashi and his father.

Naruto has been going through his exercises for a while now and it had gotten so dark he couldn't see himself and that gave him a new training idea. He thought that fighting against an opponent he couldn't see would be a great chance to practice his sensing abilities. He and his clone stood exactly ten feet away from each other. Once he found the clone's chakra he dashed forward hoping to catch his opponent off guard.

The training ground was covered in darkness the indication of someone being there were the sparks and sounds of metal clashing. Naruto was fighting blind and received a couple cuts but so did his clones which is why he was on his fifth clone. He ducked under a swing from the duplicate, he used his speed to shoot forward and slash the clone's stomach causing it to dispel. He dropped to the ground sweating, he was finished training for the day. He sat on the ground for about five minutes before using what energy he had left to get himself home.

**X-x-X**

Naruto's morning had been going well so far. His mom had cooked ramen for breakfast and his dad had some time to talk with him. He loved the time they spent together as a family but once again it looked like it would be cut short as ANBU member appeared outside their door. Minato went to let the ANBU member inside.

"What's so important you couldn't wait until I got to my office?" Minato asked calmly.

"This arrived and I thought you would want it immediately." The ANBU said handing Minato a scroll.

Minato took the scroll and the seal on it surprised him but he didn't show it on the outside. He didn't expect this, it had been a while since this happened.

"Thank you boar, you were right bringing this to me right away." Minato said.

"It's my job hokage-sama." Boar said before disappearing.

Minato broke the seal on the scroll and read its contents. He finished reading and rolled the scroll back up before holding it in his palm. As the scroll sat in his palm it burst into flames, the flames swallowed the paper before nothing was left. Minato closed his hand and opened it to reveal that nothing was there.

"What did the scroll say Mina-chan?" Kushina asked her husband.

"It seems my brother and sister are on their way to the village." Minato said

Naruto's face lit up at the thought of his uncle and auntie visiting again. Although when they came they could never stay to long but he always had fun with them.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

**So how did you guys like some of the things revealed last chapter? Feel free to review and let me know. I'll try my best to respond to everyone but there are some things I won't be able to answer without giving spoilers. Don't forget there is a poll on my profile go and check it out for me. Now back to the story. **

Naruto was excited today was going to be a good day, it was the day of the chunin exams finals. He would get to see some amazing fights and today was the day his aunt and uncle were supposed to make it to town. He ran as fast as he could through the streets of Konoha as he raced to meet them. He arrived at the gate only to see the eternal gate guardians Kotetsu Hagane and Izumo Kamizuki.

"What are you doing here Naruto, shouldn't you be with your father at the stadium?" Kotetsu asked.

"I'm here to meet my aunt and uncle." Naruto said smiling.

"Ah the fated twins are going to bless us with their presence." Izumo said leaning on the guard post.

"Yeah they're coming to watch the finals." Naruto said moving towards the gate.

"I heard there were some pretty good kids in the tournament and not just from Konoha." Izumo said.

"I heard that Yamanaka kid was pretty tough though." Kotetsu shot back.

"Well he'll have to get through that kid from waterfall first." Izumo said before yawning.

"Are all of the gates supposed to be this easy to get into?" A female voice asked from above Izumo.

"I think it's just these two Minato wouldn't be so irresponsible." Another voice said this time a male.

The trio looked at the top of the guard post to see two blondes one a man the other a female. The female had long hair that cascaded down her back and light blue eyes. Her attire consisted of a dark blue short sleeved turtleneck and form fitting black pants, there was also a white haori that hung over her shoulders. The male standing next to her looked to be identical the only difference were his hear which was short and spikey and his pants which were standard fit instead of tight.

"Uncle Taiyo, Auntie Tsuki." Naruto yelled disappearing and reappearing between his Aunt and Uncle. They smile and hugged their nephew. Izumo couldn't help but smile Naruto rarely smiled like he was at the moment even if was because of the Namikaze twins.

"It's good to see you too Naruto but I think we have somewhere to be." Taiyo said smiling at his nephew.

"Yeah we don't want to keep Minato-nii waiting." Tsuki added.

"I guess not, wait until you guys meet my teammates." Naruto said dragging the twins with him.

**X-x-X**

The trio of blondes made it to the stadium just in time to watch the start of the first fight. Although they couldn't enter the kage box until the next intermission Taiyo and Tsuki knew that Minato knew they were here in fact he had known the minute they arrived. They looked up towards the box to see Minato looking straight at them with narrowed eyes before he gave them a classic Namikaze smile before turning his attention back to the fight.

The proctor had jumped away just in time to miss the collision of the two contestants. One of them was a boy with wild jet black hair being contained by his hitaite with the cloud symbol on it. He wore the usual Kumo attire with two thick rods of metal on his back. His opponent was a slim boy with dull purple hair and brown eyes. They jump away from each to create some space and stood there analyzing each other.

"So Naruto who do you thinks going to win?" Tsuki asked keeping her eyes on the fight.

"I don't know much about that kid from Hoshigakure but his name is Mizura and the other kid is Sora Yozora I met him a couple of times when I with dad to Kumo he's pretty strong." Naruto answered.

"That Hoshi kid is putting up a good fight." Taiyo said looking at the fight.

Back in the arena you could see Mizura covered in a purple chakra shroud. Most people couldn't see it but Sora's eyes had widened. He was no sensor ninja but he could feel that Mizura's chakra growing at a rapid rate. He jumped high into the air throwing his steel rods at Mizura who smacked them away with his chakra covered arms. "**Summoning Jutsu." **Sora exclaimed as he landed on the ground.

Sora exploded from the smoke on the back of a giant bat. Mizura swiped at the airborne Sora with his chakra arms. Sora directed the bat to swoop down low and jumped off as his hands were flipping through hand seals. Mizura didn't let him finish his jutsu as sped towards him hitting him in the stomach knocking him into the wall causing into to go unconscious also dispelling his summon. The proctor appeared kneeling down checking on Sora.

"Sora Yozora is unconscious, the match goes to Mizura of Hoshigakure." The proctor holding Mizura's hand up in victory.

The medical ninja came and picked Sora up to take him to the medical area. Mizura slowly walked back through the tunnels but before made it back to his seat he collapsed to one knee.

"That really took a lot out of me, I have to watch how long I hold that jutsu." Mizura said to himself getting back up.

Naruto was thought the first fight was good but the second one was a huge letdown. It was between Miyuki of Ame and Haisha of Suna. It ended as soon as it started, Haisha rushed in only to shot down by Miyuki's steel rain technique. He hoped the next fight would last longer, it was Inari Inuzuka vs his teammate Harou Yamanaka who was subsequently the cousin of Ino.

"This should be a good one my dad told me Seiji is one of the strongest kids in our age group." Naruto said getting excited.

Back in the arena the proctor was ready to start the fight. He stood in the middle of the two teammates who were busy staring into each other's souls. Inari was an intimidating figure for a fifteen year old, he stood at six feet even with long wild hair and his elongated canines along with the dog/fox hybrid standing at his side added to the intimidation factor. Harou wasn't so ordinary himself standing at an impressive height of five foot nine. His platinum blond hair along with his blue eyes weren't as intimidating as his teammates features but they were enough.

"Are you ready?" He asked looking at Inari who nodded in the positive, "Are you ready?" He asked the same thing to Harou who also nodded positively. After receiving his answers he dropped his hand and disappeared from the Arena.

"You know you're going to lose right Harou." Inari said in a cocky tone as his partner yipped in agreement. "I know boy but we won't hurt him to bad." He said smiling.

"You're always making quick judgments, hmm I guess you'll never learn." Harou said from under his hood with his hands in his pockets.

Inari was not one for talking so he got straight to fighting. "Come on Kito let's do it, "**Ninpō: Jūjin Bunshin**." Inari said as Kito transformed into a copy of him.

One of the Inari dashed towards Harou as the other one jumped high in the air. With a cry of "**Gatsūga" **the two Inari started spinning at ferocious speeds.

Harou made a quick hand seal "**Shinranshin no Jutsu." **

The spinning Inari in the air suddenly darted towards the ground colliding with the Inari on the ground causing a big cloud of dust to appear. Harou didn't give Inari a chance to recover as he finished his next jutsu slapping his hands to the ground, "**Doton: Sagari Dōmu." **An earth dome rose from the ground. Harou pushed his hands a few inches deeper into the ground and the top of the dome crashed down onto the fallen Inari and Kito.

"It's over proctor call the match." Harou said walking out of the arena.

The proctor walked over to the crater Harou created with his jutsu to check on the Inari and Kito, He walked back to the center of the Arena.

"Inari Inuzuka is unconscious and unable to continue, winner of the match Harou Yamanaka." The proctor said before continuing to call out the next competitors. The crowds' cheering was so loud you could hear it in the next country over. Everyone seemed to be pleased with the fights so far. Even the kage seemed to be enjoying themselves.

In the kage box sat three of the most powerful and influential men in the world, the kazekage sat on the far left in his blue kage garb, he had maroon colored hair and dark eyes he was not the most intimidating man in appearance but his reputation made others think twice. Minato in the middle in his custom robes an emotionless look on his face. The mountain of a man raikage sat on the right in his kage robes, the second fastest man in the world only behind Minato himself.

"Your genin are quite talented Minato-sama, it's a shame none of my genin made it to the finals." The kazekage spoke.

"Thank you Sakin-sama and maybe your genin will do better in the next chunin exams." Minato replied.

"Ah Kiri I hear that it's going to be an interesting one." The raikage boomed.

"What makes you say that A-san?" Minato asked curiously.

"Yes do tell." Sakin said as his curiosity was piqued.

"Have you two forgotten what happened at the last Kiri exams?" A asked with raised eyebrows.

"But the six-tails was sealed right after it attacked." Sakin answered.

"Yes but he's talking about why the six tails attacked." Minato said finally speaking up.

"Correct Minato-sama and from what I hear the three tails is roaming free." A said keeping his eyes on the fight.

"And you find the possibility of a biju attack interesting?" Sakin asked.

"Along with the possible genin candidates the Kiri exams should be one for the ages." A responded.

"So Sakin-sama are your children participating in the next exams." Minato asked changing the subject.

"In fact they are." He said stoically.

"I hear they are quite the team." Minato stated.

"Speaking of great teams, what about your son's team?" A asked getting the attention of the other kage.

"They are doing fine." Minato said giving a short answer.

"Just fine? A team comprised of your son, an Uchiha prince and the famed Konoha no Raiju is doing just fine?" A pressed on.

"Yes just fine A-sama, now I believe it's time for me to address the crowd." Minato said before he and his guards disappeared. He appeared in the center of the arena looking up at the crowd.

"I would like to thank all you for coming out and supporting the young shinobi who were looking to become more in the world. These young men and women dedicate their lives to protecting their homes, life as a shinobi is not to be taken lightly. Before most of us were born the world was embroiled in war everybody wanted to prove that they were stronger and it stayed that way for a long time until one great man gave birth to the chunin exams. Tobirama Senju replaced senseless war with the chunin exams. He saved a lot of lives this way and I hope to keep the tradition alive, have a great time in your stay here and goodbye." Minato finished flashing back into the kage box.

As Minato disappeared in his signature yellow flash the crowd went wild. Even if you were from a different village you couldn't help but stare in awe the famed Hiraishin, the jutsu that killed over five hundred shinobi in a single use.

**X-x-X**

The exams had been over for a couple of hours and Naruto had been hanging out with his aunt and uncle while his dad was meeting with the other village leaders deciding who would receive the rank of chunin.

"You want to see something cool Naruto?" Taiyo asked as they were walking.

"Is it a jutsu?" Naruto asked.

"Yes it is and it's one of my personal jutsu." Taiyo answered.

"So let's see it." Naruto said eager to see a new jutsu.

"It's a family secret so let's wait until we get to your house." Taiyo said.

"What are we waiting for?" Naruto asked disappearing in a burst of speed.

"We can't let our kid nephew beat us in a race." Taiyo said looking at Tsuki before disappearing in his own burst of speed.

"Hmm, boys and their jutsu." Tsuki said before disappearing like her brother and nephew before her.

Naruto came to a sudden stop when he saw his aunt and uncle standing at the front gates of his family's compound.

"How did you two get here so fast? I didn't even see you guys run passed me." Naruto said.

"When you grow up with a speed demon like your dad you pick up a few things." Tsuki said walking through the now open gate.

"You'll learn it someday kid." Taiyo said following his sister.

Naruto ran to catch up with his aunt and uncle. They stepped into the house to find the front room occupied by some influential people although they were friends of his parents and parents of his friends. The heads of two important clans and their wives sat in the front room of Naruto's home.

"It's nice to see you all again." Naruto said to the clan heads.

"Yeah it's been a while Naruto how have you been?" Yoshino Nara asked.

"I've been good and you Yoshino-san?" Naruto asked.

"I've been good as well but if you're looking for the kids they're waiting for you in your room." Yoshino answered.

"Well I better not keep them waiting any longer." Naruto said taking off to his room.

"I see you two made it here safely." A voice said from behind the twins.

"Ah it's a pleasure to see you again Kushina." Taiyo said hugging Kushina.

"Yes and we have a lot to catch up on nee-san." Tsuki said to Kushina.

"Yes we do but right now we have company to entertain." Kushina said walking over to her friends.

"Oh yes we're sorry, it's nice you Shikaku-san and Yoshino-san." Taiyo said to the Nara.

"And you Shibi-san, Mari-san." Tsuki said to the Aburame.

"I forgot to ask, where are Choza and Inoichi?" Kushina asked her friends.

"Since Harou won his match Inoichi decided to take him out to the Akimichi's restaurant." Shikaku answered.

"Oh well Minato should be home soon so he can tell us who got promoted." Kushina said smiling.

"What brings you two here besides the exams?" Shikaku asked the twins.

"We came to inform Minato that the Daimyo has approved Minato's choice to reawaken the family business." Tsuki answered with evident pride in her voice.

"The Namikaze family has always been close to the Daimyos of the land of fire." Shikaku put in.

"Do you already have all of the positions filled?" Shibi asked from behind his collar.

"No we have four open spots but we do have some potential candidates." Tsuki answered.

"So he agreed to everything I proposed or just to bring the group back?" Minato asked walking from the kitchen.

"How long have you been here?" Kushina asked her husband.

"I got here when Naruto, Tsuki and Taiyo did." Minato said smiling.

"But we didn't see you when we got here." Tsuki said to her big brother.

"Tsuki you know Minato won't be seen unless he wanted to." Taiyo said.

"You're right Taiyo now we have to business to discuss if you'll excuse us." Minato said leaving with his siblings.

**X-x-X**

Naruto went upstairs to find his friends Shikamaru and Shino waiting for him. He and Shikamaru had been best friends since before they could walk. Since both their dads worked together a lot with Minato being hokage and Shikaku being the jonin commander. He and Shino were good friends just not as close as he and Shikamaru.

"What are you guys doing here?" Naruto asked his friends.

"What we can't come see our friend?" Shikamaru asked feigning being hurt.

"We're here because our mothers dragged us over here along with our fathers." Shino said in his monotone voice.

"Thank you Shino and you call me troublesome." Naruto said looking at Shikamaru.

"Did Kakashi and Kurenai tell you that they were going to nominate you for the next chunin exams?" Shikamaru asked his friends.

"Yes she did." Shino answered shortly.

"Kakashi did to, I can't wait I've never been to Kirigakure." Naruto said with his arms crossed.

"Yeah as troublesome as it's going to be it should be some fun." Shikamaru added.

"Looks like it's time for you guys to go." Naruto said.

"How would-?" Shikamaru started to ask.

"Shikamaru, Shino come on your mothers are ready to go." Kushina said from the doorway.

"Troublesome blondes and their sensing abilities, I guess I'll see you later." Shikamaru said walking out the door.

"Goodbye Naruto-san." Shino said following Shikamaru.

"Naruto your father wants to see you in his office." Kushina said walking away.

Naruto immediately went down to his father's office which was on the lowest of the three story house. His father's office was protected by a barrier seal, a blood seal and a genjutsu. Some would say he was being paranoid but that's not the case when said room contains the notes for some of the strongest jutsu ever created.

"What did you want to talk about dad?" Naruto asked his dad who was leaning on the wall.

"I'll tell you when we get inside my office." Minato said putting his palms perpendicular to each other on the wall causing a sealing formula to appear then a door.

Naruto couldn't help but stare in amazement, the seals on the door were far beyond anything he could do. He could only hope to take his abilities to that level. The amount of possible uses for that type of seal was amazing.

"Could you teach me that dad?" Naruto asked snapping out of his daze.

"One day son, right now we have something important to talk about." Minato said ruffling his son's hair before going into his now visible office.

Naruto followed his dad into his office and saw that his aunt and uncle were there to. Naruto looked behind him to see that the door that was just there was now a wooden wall. He hadn't been down here many times but he could have sworn that it changed rooms every time. He shook that thought out of his head and went to sit down next to his aunt.

"It's time for you to learn about our family history son." Minato said.

"What do you mean dad, I thought the Namikaze were just a merchant family." Naruto said with a confused look on his face.

"That's not necessarily a lie but it's not the whole truth either." Taiyo cut in.

Minato gave his younger brother a disapproving look before turning back to his son, "Let me handle this Taiyo."

"What is he talking about dad?" Naruto asked.

"Well if I'm going to tell this story I should start at the beginning." Minato started. "When the village was first founded the first hokage met with the then daimyo of the land of fire about his plans for Konoha. He wasn't the best with politics so he brought his younger brother Tobirama along, when they-." Minato stopped mid-sentence.

"What's wrong Minato?" Tsuki asked.

"It seems we will have to do this another time, I'm needed somewhere." Minato told them.

Disappointment was clear in Naruto's eyes. He wanted to learn the history behind his dad's family but he would to wait. Minato stood up and hugged his son.

"You know I love you." Minato said looking into his sons eyes.

"I love you too dad." Naruto said.

Minato flashed away leaving his family in an awkward silence. Naruto looked at his aunt and uncle who were kind of avoiding his gaze.

"I don't suppose you two could tell me about our family?" Naruto asked already knowing the answer.

"Sorry Ruto but we promised your dad." Tsuki said sad she couldn't tell her nephew what he deserved to know.

"But we can train you." Taiyo added causing his nephew eyes light up.

"I guess we can do that." Naruto said with a smile.

Naruto led his aunt and uncle to one of the many training grounds inside his family compound. Of course he had chosen one of the ones his dad modified to take extreme damage. He had never really seen his aunt and uncle fight but if they were anything like his dad then he was in for something special.

"What are you guys going to show me?" Naruto asked eagerly.

"Well Tsuki and I have two very unique skill sets that might be out of your reach at the moment but we can show you the Namikaze taijutsu style." Taiyo told him.

"That sounds great." Naruto said as he followed the siblings to the middle of the training ground.

"Hey about you give me some targets to hit Naruto." Taiyo yelled.

Naruto formed the signature kage bunshin hand seal, ten poofs a smoke simultaneously appeared. The smoke dissipated revealing ten copies of Naruto.

"Don't blink." Was all Taiyo said with a large smile on his face before fading away.

Taiyo was almost going too fast for Naruto to follow but Naruto could see the faint outline of his uncle appearing in front of his clones before dispelling them with one hit and appearing in front of the next clone before there were none left. He appeared in front of Naruto and Tsuki with a cocky smile on his face.

"How did you like that?" He asked.

"That was awesome." Naruto nearly yelled.

"Then we better start teaching it to you." Taiyo said.

"Does it have a name?" Naruto asked.

"Yes, it's called Idōken, it's all about speed." Tsuki told him.

"Before you can start learning the actual style we have to get your body in the right shape." Taiyo informed him.

"I know your father put gravity seals on you when you were young so this will be easier than usual." Tsuki started. "I hope you have some free time because this is going to get rough."

"Yeah I have two days before my team has training of any kind." Naruto said getting nervous at the looks they were giving him, "I guess it's going to be a long day."

**X-x-X**

Naruto was so tired that he just fell asleep at the training grounds. Taiyo and Tsuki stood above Naruto with a smile on their faces.

"He's going to be something special." Taiyo said picking him up.

"He's like Minato's twin but he has some of Kushina-nee in him too." Tsuki added.

The twins dropped Naruto off in his room and were walking to the rooms Minato prepared for them. They enjoyed spending time with their brother and his family.

"I see you two had quite a day." A voice said from behind them.

They turned around to find Kakashi standing there. Tsuki rushed to hug Kakashi with Taiyo following closely. Kakashi had met the twins a long time ago when they first visited Minato in the village and they've been close ever since. The twins saw Kakashi as a big brother and it worked with the seven year gap between their ages.

"What are you doing here so late?" Taiyo asked.

"I came to tell Naruto that our team has training tomorrow afternoon." Kakashi told them.

"Oh I guess we have to train him another time." Tsuki said a little disappointed.

"That explains the dirt and the tired look, what were you teaching him?" Kakashi asked.

"We're going to teach him the Namikaze taijutsu but we just got his body ready today." Taiyo told him.

"Ah the Idōken, in that case would you guys be able to come to our training session?" Kakashi asked.

"You know we can't teach our techniques to anyone other than a Namikaze." Taiyo said.

"I know and that's why you two will train Naruto and I can focus on my other students namely Sakura." Kakashi told them.

"Naruto told us about her, he says she's really smart but he doesn't think she's serious about being a kunoichi." Tsuki said with a hint of pity.

"Yeah, hey if we train Naruto and you train the girl then who's going to train the Uchiha?" Taiyo asked.

"That's where the wonders of shadow clones come in." Kakashi said smirking behind his mask.

The twins chuckled at Kakashi, they talked for a few more minutes before parting ways. All the genin members of were sleep peacefully at the moment. They would need all the sleep they could get because tomorrow would be hell.

**I know I don't show a lot of training and that's because I don't feel comfortable with my ability to write fight scenes at the moment but I will gradually write more fight scenes so fear not and just bear with me. Please review and if you have any pointers on writing fight scenes feel free to let me know.**


	8. Chapter 8

**A Different Life**

Naruto was angry and sleepy, all because his aunt and uncle woke him up at the crack of dawn and were currently dragging him to god knows where. He couldn't help but let himself fall back to sleep as he was being dragged. He was just beginning to fall into a deep sleep when something hard rammed into his stomach. His eyes shot open to find himself at his teams' regular training ground along with his teammates. Sasuke stood to his left looking as if he'd just woken up and Sakura sat with her legs crossed just a few feet away from Sasuke.

"What's going on? Why are we here so early?" Naruto asked looking at his teammates.

"Kakashi-sensei apparently wants to up our training." Sakura said from her spot on the ground.

A smile found its way onto Naruto's face as he figured out why they were really there. His mind started to wander onto future possibilities.

"What's with the stupid look on his face?" Sasuke asked pointing a thumb in Naruto's direction.

"I assume he has figured why you all are here." Taiyo said with a smile on his face.

"So this isn't just a regular training session? Sakura asked getting up.

"Not at all my dear students, there will be regular about this training session." A familiar voice said behind the group.

Kakashi appeared standing on a tree branch before jumping down joining the rest of team seven and the Namikaze twins. As Kakashi walked towards the group an image of feral dog appeared behind him joined by an overwhelming pressure that forced the genin to their knees. At first glance the twins seemed to be unaffected but if you took a closer look then you would see their knees beginning to buckle and the sweat rolling down the sides of their faces.

"It seems like Kakashi is getting serious." Taiyo whispered to his sister.

Taiyo only got a robotic nod in response, her eyes locked on the genin in front of her. Naruto seemed to be getting used to it already as he was on one knee pulling himself up, Sasuke seemed to be resting on his knees and Sakura reacted the worse as she was lying face down in the grass.

"As of now I don't feel that you three will be competition to the genin in the next exams." Kakashi said releasing his K.I and walking towards Sakura.

"Was that really necessary Kakashi-sensei?" Sasuke asked standing up.

"That was only a fraction of what I can do and by the time I'm done with you the chunin exams will be a breeze." Kakashi said helping Sakura up.

"So what do you have planned for today?" Naruto asked with his arms crossed.

"You will continue training with your aunt and uncle and I will take of Sasuke and Sakura." Kakashi answered.

"Let's go Ruto we have a lot of work to do." Tsuki said before walking away followed by her brother and nephew.

Kakashi turned towards his two remaining students. A clone appeared next to him in a spark of electricity.

"Sasuke follow this clone he has everything you need to train." Kakashi told Sasuke.

Sasuke nodded and followed the clone who had begun walking deeper into the forest. Sasuke didn't know what he would be learning but he was sure it would be worth his time. Back in the clearing Kakashi stood there giving Sakura a calculating stare.

"Let's see how much you've improved since our talk." He said vanishing.

He appeared behind her kicking her in the back sending her flying forward. Sakura pulled out a kunai, stabbing it into the ground canceling her forward momentum. She quickly began weaving through hand seals.

Kakashi noticed his was starting to blur, he gave a quick smirk from under his mask before releasing a pulse of chakra to cancel the genjutsu placed on him. His vision cleared but he still felt a disturbance in his chakra. There was a small displacement in the air in front of him, he quickly leaned to the side while lashing out with a quick jab smashing into human flesh. Sakura suddenly appeared on the receiving end of his punch. He pulled his fist out of her gut dropping her to the ground.

"So you've learned how to double layer genjutsu?" Kakashi asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes my dad has been helping me in his free time. I can only layer d-rank genjutsu and two c-rank but not for long." She said picking herself up.

"Then that gives us something to work on." Kakashi said giving his signature eye smile.

**X-x-X**

Sasuke stood opposite of the Kakashi clone in the middle of a small clearing. The clone stood with his hands in his pockets while Sasuke stood in one of his clans many taijutsu styles with his Sharingan active. He had a few bruises forming on his arms and his face while Kakashi seemed to be unscathed.

"Your taijutsu is up to par I don't think we have to worry about that." The clone said.

"Itachi made sure I would be more than competent in close range fighting." Sasuke said as if it was obvious.

"What about ninjutsu, is there anything new you're learning?" The clone asked.

"Itachi has been working with me on my wire techniques and taught me katon: Ryūka no Jutsu." He told him.

"Well I'll let Itachi continue with that but if you want I can teach you how to use a sword." Kakashi suggested.

"I have heard about you being one of the best in the village with your tanto, by the way why don't you ever use it?" Sasuke asked getting sidetracked.

"I only use it when it's needed, but back to the matter at hand do you want to learn or not?" Kakashi asked.

"Let's do it, I never turned down learning something new especially from a ninja of your caliber." Sasuke said relaxing his stance.

"That's great, you have three choices you can choose a blade from my personal collection, buy a custom blade or choose from the vast collection the Uchiha have in their vault." The Kakashi clone said.

"I already have one in mind that's back in the Uchiha vault." Sasuke said with a gleam in his eyes.

"Well lead the way." The clone said.

Sasuke didn't say a word he just disappeared in a burst of speed. The clone was not far behind he smiled as he trailed his student. He knew he would pick a sword from the Uchiha vault, Sasuke never wanted Naruto to get too far ahead of him and if he had a special weapon like Naruto's Susanoo no Te then they would be equals.

**X-x-X**

Taiyo stood in the middle of a clearing with his eyes closed and hands at his side. Naruto appeared at his right sweeping at his legs. Taiyo with his eyes still closed swiftly jumped over Naruto's sweeping leg landing back in the same spot. Naruto disappeared, reappearing behind his uncle this time who kicked back at Naruto with lightning speed while still facing forward. Naruto flew backwards kicking up dust as he crashed into the ground.

"You're getting faster Naruto but it'll take years for you to catch up to me." Taiyo said with a grin on his face.

"Taiyo don't tease him, if I remember right you were the same when Minato came to train with us." Tsuki said scolding her brother.

"I'm still faster than you." Taiyo said sticking his tongue out.

"Naruto you seem to be learning quick, you know it took Taiyo and I months to learn the first level of the Idōken." Tsuki said completely ignoring her brother.

"I guess it's like father like son." Naruto said smiling sheepishly rubbing the back of his head.

"I guess so but it seems you have already gotten used to the weight we put on you last night." Tsuki said.

"Yeah you know with my Uzumaki blood along with the fluff ball in my stomach my body is forever changing." Naruto explained.

"That's right but we still need to adjust it." Tsuki said walking over to Naruto.

Naruto took off his shirt so she could adjust the gravity seals on his shoulders. She quickly upped the level of all the gravity seals on his body. Naruto stood up slowly remembering what happened last time he tried to stand up to quickly after having his gravity seals upgraded. He still had the scar where the bone popped out of his leg.

"Since you seem to be picking up on the Idōken so well we have something else to teach you." Taiyo said walking over to him.

**X-x-X**

In a dark room at unknown location, Minato stood at the head of a table surrounded by three of most trusted shinobi. Not many knew of this room and those who did sat at the table waiting for their leader to speak.

The atmosphere was tense as the powerful shinobi stared at each other waiting for their briefing to begin. Minato looked at each of the shinobi in front and him. Shikaku Nara who sat to his right, a man with invaluable intelligence he had been Minato's right hand since his appointment as hokage. Hiruzen Sarutobi, the previous kage even in retirement Minato turned to Hiruzen for advice. Lastly his ANBU commander Panda, a mysterious man but Minato trusted him with his life.

"What did we get from the recon in Taki?" Minato asked sitting down, waiting patiently for them to respond.

The little light that shined inside the room seemed to dull as Shikaku sat up in his chair getting ready to speak. "There's been some disturbing turn of events in Taki."

Shikaku pulled out a map with different colored markers on it. Minato felt something awaken in the pit of his stomach. It was a feeling that he hadn't felt since the beginning of the third Great War. He had been in situations like this before but not as Hokage, he was just another ninja under the command of Hiruzen but now it was different he was the one making crucial decisions. He looked around at the remaining men in the room. Hiruzen looked unaffected on the outside but knew that the life of being a shinobi was catching up to him and another war would not help it. Panda looked like he always did, like nothing mattered but Minato knew better Panda was one the most loyal shinobi he had ever met.

"Tell me everything we found out." Minato said getting into Hokage mode.

Hiruzen couldn't help but smile at his successor. He knew he made the right choice when he chose Minato to be the yondaime instead of Orochimaru. He had watched Minato grow from a child into a man. Shikaku shifted and pointed at the map.

"This is as far as our first squad got before being hindered by the hidden entrance into Taki." Shikaku started in a low voice, half of his face covered by the shadows. "So we sent three of our agents to wander in Taki territory disguised as civilians to see if they could find where the patrols were coming from."

"Haven't we failed using that tactic before?" Minato asked confused as to why a brilliant man like Shikaku would use such a simple tactic.

"This time was-." Shikaku started to explain before Panda raised his hand.

Panda continued looking at Shikaku like he was waiting for permission to speak. Shikaku smirked before giving the silent man an approving nod.

"As Nara-sama was saying, this time we didn't use a regular ANBU squad as we could not afford to be captured and fail the mission." Panda said in a tone barely above a whisper. "GHOST squad volunteered for the mission."

Minato was slightly taken aback by the information he just received but he didn't show an ounce of surprise on the outside. GHOST squad was one of his personal black op squads outside of the regular ANBU only available to himself and Shikaku, they undertook missions that required to be done outside of village regulations.

"I assume they succeeded?" Minato asked in a calm tone.

"Yes sir, they successfully tracked the patrols and found the hidden entrance." Panda answered in an emotionless tone.

"Have they been briefed yet?" Minato asked.

Panda gave a negative nod Minato gave a quick hand signal, in an instant a kneeling ANBU operative sprung into existence next to him.

"I need you to bring me Kokutō right now." Minato commanded the agent.

The ANBU disappeared into the shadows as if he were never there. A few minutes passed before the ANBU member came back with figure dressed in all black including his mask. Kokutō seemed to blend into the darkness of the room, he was the epitome of stealth at least the moment. A black bladed katana sat on his back as he stood facing his superiors. Minato gave a wave of his hand and the other present ANBU disappeared in a flicker of movement. Three quick hand seals later and the room glowed with privacy seal matrixes.

"You may take off your mask, we are in one the most secure locations in the world." Minato told his operative.

Kokutō pulled his hood down revealing short spikey brown hair. He removed his masked showing his scar faced and the eyes of a veteran. Minato's visage softened at the sight of one of his personal guards.

"Raido Namiashi code name Kokutō reporting sir." He said standing at attention.

"Stand down Raido-san, you are here to report on your latest mission to Takigakure, we need to know what you saw inside there." Minato told him.

Raido seem to stiffen at the mentioning of Taki.

"Sir once we successfully infiltrated the village, we observed the villagers and the shinobi around the village something seemed off but we didn't know what. After a few hours' two platoons of foreign ninja entered the village unchallenged." He told them.

Minato sat in his chair analyzing the information he was just told. He could interrupt Raido and ask him questions or he could continue to listen and break down the information as he went.

"At first we thought it was an invasion until a man came to meet the shinobi. Who we recognized as Suien who we believed to be a missing nin. We moved closer to find out what they were talking about. Once we got close enough we found out two vital pieces of information. One these foreign ninja were from the recently created Otogakure and two Suien had taken over the village with the help of these ninja." Raido finished.

Minato sat silently taking in the information. Any way he put it this situation was bad, for some reason the Oto shinobi had been in the land of fire more than the other nations and now they had taken over another village. It seemed that the people of Takigakure felt as if everything was normal so it couldn't have been a hostile takeover or at least not to the public eye.

"Is that all?" Minato asked.

"Yes sir, once we spotted the village insignia we left the village." Raido answered.

"Hmm, I know I don't have to tell you that speaking of what was said here is considered treason." Minato said as Raido nodded. "Then you are dismissed, enjoy the time that you have."

Raido bowed his head slightly before putting his hood and mask back on once again becoming the leader of GHOST squad Kokutō. He attempted to meld into the shadows with no avail. He turned to look at Minato who formed a one hand seal as the sealing matrixes illuminated the room once more. Raido this time successfully faded into the shadows.

"This is troubling news Minato, we need to find out who is behind this mysterious Otogakure and find out what they are up to." Hiruzen said putting his pipe down.

"I'm sure you've figured it out but it seems that Shibuki is most likely dead and Suien and whoever the leader of Oto is made it look like his death was normal." Shikaku said speaking up.

"I'm already thinking a ways to deal with this but it'll take some time, meet me back here tomorrow at 0700." Minato said before disappearing in a yellow flash.

**X-x-X**

(The next day)

Team seven stood in front of one of the many mission desks in the back of the academy. The room was filled with teams ready to take on a mission along with shinobi ready to take a solo mission. The black haired woman at the desk in front of team seven seemed to not notice their presence until Kakashi stepped forward getting her attention.

"Team seven requesting a c-rank mission." Kakashi said.

The woman searched through the scrolls on her desk before pulling out a scroll with a fancy seal on it.

"This one should suit your team well." She said smiling at Kakashi.

Kakashi took the scroll winking at the woman making her blush. He broke the seal and read the scrolls contents. The contents must have been interesting because as he read his visible eye brow raised.

"It's look like we have a client to protect." Kakashi told his team.

"When do we leave?" Sakura asked.

"We leave in an hour, I have to go talk to our client, meet at the south gate." Kakashi said walking away.

"Where are we escorting the client to?" Sasuke asked his fleeing sensei.

"We're taking him to the capitol." Kakashi said disappearing into the crowd of shinobi in the office.

The genin shared a look of surprise. The only escort missions that came from the capitol were for nobles and the nobles of the land of fire had plenty of enemies. The noble themselves weren't always the best of people either.

"I should go home and prepare." Sakura said walking away.

"Yeah me too, I'll see you guys at the south gate." Naruto said disappearing in a gust of wind.

Sasuke stood there as he was left alone by his team. He stood there for a few more seconds before shrugging and walking away.

An hour later the genin of team seven stood at the south gate with the driver of the carriage taking the noble back to the capitol. They heard some voices and turned to see their sensei, a middle-aged man dressed in a fine kimono and surprisingly the Namikaze twins.

"My dear students this is Futai Hiyoshi a member of the fire court and our client." Kakashi said Ushering the man forward.

Futai was dressed like your typical noble male. A kimono made of the finest material covered in intricate designs. His hair slicked back hanging over his shoulders, along with the long beard that hung from his chin.

"Nice to meet you lord Hiyoshi." The genin chorused.

"The pleasure is all mine, it's not every day you meet the Namikaze heir and an Uchiha." Lord Futai said a bit too excitedly.

"Now that introductions are over we have a mission to complete." Kakashi said walking signaling the guards to open the gate.

"Are you just going to act like Naruto's aunt and uncle are standing behind us?" Sakura asked pointing a thumb at the twins.

"Yeah what are they doing here?" Sasuke asked.

"Yeah I was wondering the same thing." Naruto said scratching his head.

Kakashi looked towards the twins as if he was waiting for them to explain their presence at the gate.

"What, your loving aunt and uncle can't come to see you off?" Taiyo asked playfully.

Tsuki elbowed her brother in the side. "We were returning to the capitol and we ran into Kakashi and Futai-san so we thought it would be good if we got a ride with him."

"This is fine with you Kakashi sensei?" Sakura asked looking at her sensei.

"Yes they can take care of themselves and its extra protection for free." Kakashi answered.

"Yes, yes three Namikaze, an Uchiha and Raijin Kakashi for such a meager price." Futai said stepping into his carriage followed by Taiyo and Tsuki.

Sakura hung her head a little bit, that was twice that lord Futai had forgotten about her. She felt like she didn't fit in with the rest of them as they were practically royalty in the land of fire. She quickly straightened up before someone saw her current mood.

"Whatever." Sasuke said putting his hands in his pocket.

"Alright team kenran formation." Kakashi commanded.

Naruto created two clones that followed him to the back of the carriage. Sasuke took the right side while Sakura was on the left with Kakashi heading the formation.

The gates were open and thus began one of the many adventures of team seven. Their destination, Keishi the capitol of the land of fire was a popular place. Keishi was south of Konoha, away from all of the other villages. The location was one of the reasons why it had only been successfully invaded twice in the history of the land of fire. The trip would only be about a day but nobles were not known for their endurance.

**X-x-X**

The group had made it about half way before Futai decided he wanted to set up camp. Futai and his driver had retreated to their tents for the night while the shinobi sat around a fire. All types of sounds floated through the crisp night air.

"Sensei don't you think we should set up a perimeter or something?" Sakura asked getting a little worried.

"It's already been handled, Naruto has clones in all directions." Kakashi told her.

"No offence to you Naruto but is that really enough?" Sakura asked.

Sasuke and Taiyo made teasing noises at Naruto as Tsuki shook her head the "men" in her presence.

Kakashi chuckled, "You should have more faith in your teammate Sakura."

"It hurts knowing that you don't believe in me Sakura-chan." Naruto said in a playful voice holding his hand to his heart.

"Ha-ha very funny but-." Sakura started to say before being cut off.

"No really there's nothing to worry about my clones are more than enough." Naruto said with a serious tone.

"He's right and if something or someone does come within three kilometers of us his clones will sense it." Kakashi assured his student.

That seemed to please Sakura as she became quiet and relaxed.

"So what's the capitol like?" Sasuke asked looking at the twins.

"It's a great place but it's nothing like Konoha, the people aren't as nice." Tsuki answered.

"Yeah but it does have its upsides to, like the shopping district or the famous music hall." Taiyo added.

"We should get some sleep if we want to be at our best tomorrow." Kakashi said putting out the fire.

The rest of the shinobi agreed and went to their separate tents. They all laid their bodies to rest not knowing what tomorrow would bring.

**X-x-X**

The team arrived at the gates of Keishi, the genin were in awe of the walls that surrounded the city, twenty feet high, fifteen feet thick stone walls. Even the walls of Konoha weren't so huge but then again they had barriers and an army of shinobi defending it.

"I guess this is the end of our little journey." Futai said leaning out the window of his carriage.

"Yes it is lord Futai, it was a pleasure." Kakashi said shaking the noble's hand.

"No the pleasure was all mine Hatake-san, maybe I'll request your team the next time I need an escort." Futai said as his driver pulled away.

"See you next time Ruto." Tsuki said hugging her nephew.

"Yeah next time we'll teach you something special." Taiyo said fist bumping him.

The twins then disappeared in very unique ways, Taiyo in a burst of light and Tsuki who seemed to just fade into the wind.

"Kakashi, how lucky am I to run into you." A monotonic voice said from the Konoha ninja.

The shinobi turned around to see the man they met in Yu no kuni. His face still pale and his light blond hair hung down his back. His all black attire along with the twin kusarigama on his hips made him an intimidating figure.

"Kishi, what are you doing here?" Kakashi asked the strange man.

"I've been hired by a man from here to retrieve a stolen item from a group of bandits west of here." Kishi told him.

"I see where this is going, you can't handle this alone." Kakashi said figuring it out.

"That's correct, I've conferred with Jashin-sama and he has no problem with me getting help as long as he gets his sacrifices." Kishi said.

"I would have to get permission from the hokage before I could accept and even if I did how would it benefit Konoha?" Kakashi asked him.

Kishi seemed to pause as he thought about it, "You can have half of the reward and I'll put in a good word to the daimyo of Yu no Kuni." He told him.

"Okay that's sounds good enough let me check with the hokage." Kakashi said attempting to bite his thumb but was stopped by Naruto.

"No let me sensei, the toads will get to him faster." Naruto said before performing the summoning jutsu.

A medium sized brown and yellow toad appeared in front of the shinobi with a green sash around his waist.

"It's a pleasure Naruto-san, what can I do for you?" The toad asked in raspy voice.

"I need you to ask my dad if we can take on a secondary mission from a contact of Kakashi." Naruto told the toad.

"No problem Naruto-san." The toad said before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

About ten minutes passed before the toad came back. He appeared in a puff of smoke, when it cleared it revealed that he was holding a small scroll on his back.

"I'll take that." Kakashi said taking the scroll off of the toads back. "Hmm interesting, it seems that Minato sensei trusts my judgment, when do we leave?"

A devious smile seemed to creep upon the face of Kishi as he took off. Kakashi gave a nod to his genin as he followed Kishi and soon team seven was off on yet another mission not even an hour after completing their first one.

"So Kakashi sensei is there a reason you didn't tell us this guy is a Jashin worshipper?" Naruto asked.

"Who is this Jashin guy?" Sasuke asked a little confused.

"Jashin is a malevolent entity that gives his followers immortality in exchange for human sacrifices." Sakura answered as if she was reading out of a book.

"Thank you for the answer Sakura." Kakashi said giving an eye smile.

"It's said that they sometimes go insane and go on a killing spree." She continued.

"Okay Sakura I think that's enough." Kakashi told her.

"Some people call them shinigami because of their fetish for scythes and their murderous ways." She kept going.

Kakashi appeared behind her with his hand over her mouth, "I believe that's enough for today."

"The girls a smart one Kakashi, but not all Jashinist are psychopaths." Kishi said turning around.

Sakura seemed to freeze up at the tone Kishi used. She had read about the cult when she was a child after a group of them slaughtered the caravan her aunt and uncle were with. She had nightmares about men with scythes for years and now here she was face to face with one claiming not to be like the others.

"Fear not little girl I will bring no harm to you or your teammates." Kishi said still facing forward.

"You have nothing to worry about Sakura, I've worked with Kishi many times before he's trustworthy." Kakashi said from beside her.

"We're almost there, just a little bit further down this way." Kishi said in his dark tone.

"So what's the plan, go in silently or the usual with you." Kakashi said with a slight smirk under his mask.

"You know me Kakashi, I like to be up close and personal." Kishi said with a straight face.

"I should have known, how are we going to get this item and how many bandits are we dealing with?" Kakashi asked.

"I will get the item and from the information I was given there shouldn't be more than a hundred bandits." Kishi informed them before speeding ahead.

"What's the plan sensei?" Naruto asked.

"Kishi is going to have his fun, I want you and Sasuke to flank the bandit encampment and get their attention." Kakashi told them.

"What about me Kakashi sensei?" Sakura asked.

"You'll be with me, we're going to place tags all around the camp." He told her.

Their heads snapped in the direction Kishi went as an explosion rocked the ground, with an affirmative nod from his students team seven jumped off to do the jobs they were assigned.

**I'm sorry I've been gone longer than usual but it's finals time in college and I've been stuffed. I know there's not much action in this chapter but next chapter will make up for that with the rest of the mission and the journey to the chunin exams in Kiri. It would be nice if this story as many reviews as views but nonetheless I will keep writing. **


	9. Chapter 9

**A Different Life**

**This chapter is dedicated to darkhuntressxir, who has been a great supporter from the very beginning. Although I am sorry you won't get to see what you asked for in this chapter but you get to see your second favorite Jashinist again. **

Naruto and Sasuke sped through the forest as they flanked the bandit camp. Explosions continued to shake the ground around them. They looked towards the camp seeing plumes of smoke rise all over the camp.

"That Kishi guy sure is weird." Sasuke said.

"You really can't expect anything less from a worshipper of Jashin. There single purpose in life is to bring death and destruction." Naruto said as they stopped.

"So what combination do you want to use, wind and fire or water and lightning?" Sasuke asked.

"Let's go wind and fire it's the more destructive combo." Naruto said.

Sasuke began speeding through hand seals, "**Katon: Gōkakyū no jutsu**"." He said as a giant fireball launched from his mouth.

Naruto followed suit, "**Fūton: Kami Oroshi**"." A large vortex emerged from his outstretched hands merging with the fireball creating a superheated vortex.

The flaming tornado flew through the air before crashing into a multitude of small tents in the back of the camp. Naruto and Sasuke nodded at each other before heading back to where the group stood before their orders were given.

**X-x-X**

Kakashi and Sakura stood very still as they hugged the wall of the tent behind them. Darkness covered their bodies as they stalked through the camp placing explosive tags in key places inside the camp.

A black blur suddenly sped passed them. Kakashi could clearly see that it was Kishi but Sakura wasn't fortunate enough or she was fortunate not to see him. Kishi was covered in blood, not just specks here and there but soaked. You couldn't really see the blood as it was soaked into his black attire.

"Come on Sakura, we'll let Kishi have his fun." Kakashi told his student.

"What are we going to do?" Sakura asked.

"We're going to meet up with Naruto and Sasuke." He answered dashing away.

Kakashi and Sakura came into a heavily forested area. No light could be seen as the ancient trees blocked out any chance of it touching the ground. Predator and prey could be heard calling out into the night. Sakura shivered at the thought of what could be out there but she shook off the thought.

"You two can come out now." Kakashi said into the darkness.

"Sensei who are you talking to there is no one-." Sakura began to say.

Naruto seemed to be born from the shadows as he rose up from his crouching position his face had an uncaring look on it and the same went for Sasuke as he jumped down from his position in a tree in front of them. At that moment it hit Sakura that her teammates were for real about being shinobi, she had gotten serious but they had been serious about it since the beginning.

"What's the problem Kakashi sensei?" Naruto asked.

"Have you guys found any of this to be weird?" Kakashi asked his students.

"Are you talking the bandits?" Sakura asked.

"More like the lack thereof, I haven't a single one since we got here or heard any screams." Naruto said.

"Yeah even when we did our combo we didn't hear anyone scream, even the toughest man would scream when being burned alive." Sasuke added.

"You guys think Kishi is up to something?" Sakura asked.

"It's not Kishi we're following." Kakashi revealed shocking his students.

"What are you talking about?" Naruto asked.

"When your dad sent his answer back it said that Kishi was in the village completing the mission we're supposed to be doing." Kakashi answered.

"If we're not following Kishi then who is it?" Sakura asked.

"That's the problem even with my Sharingan I can't see who it is." Kakashi told them.

"I didn't want to say anything earlier but I did sense an irregularity in his chakra." Naruto said.

"Why didn't you say anything earlier?" Sasuke asked him.

"I just shrugged it off as a Jashinist thing." Naruto answered folding his arms.

"You and your genin aren't the brightest bunch Kakashi." A voice said from behind them as he let his killing intent flow freely.

"Yeah I would expect more from sons of such esteemed men." Another voice spoke up in a mocking tone.

Team seven turned around to face six men in black cloaks with red clouds on them. Two men stood in front of them all. They smirked before their eyes morphed into the legendary sharingan, three tomoe spinning in each eye. As soon as Sasuke saw their eyes he sprung forward only to be held back by his sensei.

"Let me go those bastards are thieves, I'm gonna rip their eyes out." Sasuke said fighting the grip of his sensei to no avail.

Kakashi calmly looked back at his student, "Calm down Sasuke."

Sasuke felt a little embarrassed his father always told him a real Uchiha never lets their emotions control them. He calmed down and stood behind his sensei next to his teammates. Kakashi stood in front of them with his hand behind his back gripping the legendary white fang that sat on the small of his back.

"Inabi and Tekka Uchiha we had suspicions that you two had a part in the massacre but most people just that your bodies were destroyed due you being so weak." Kakashi said emphasizing the word weak.

Anger once again flowed through Sasuke as he heard their names. Their bodies were the only ones not to be found but there were signs of katon jutsu so the public just went with the destroyed body's theory especially since those two weren't even close to being strong enough to kill the entire clan.

"Why show your faces now you cowards?" Sasuke asked shaking with anger.

"Our boss wants something you have and we're here to get it." Inabi said before launching himself at Kakashi.

Before Inabi could reach him a wall made of water block him followed by a wall of earth.

"Naruto, Sasuke I need you two to take Sakura and get out of here." Kakashi said pulling out the white saber.

"No we aren't going to leave you to fight these bastards alone." Sasuke yelled

"Yeah we're going to fight with you." Naruto added.

Kakashi looked at the two before looking at Sakura who was shaking, "I need you two to take her and go I can handle myself."

Naruto sighed knowing his sensei was right he grabbed Sasuke who snatched away before sighing himself and going to pick Sakura up. Naruto slammed his hand on the ground and two toads the size of Kakashi appeared. They looked back one more time before getting on the toads and jumping away. Kakashi let out a sigh of relief as his students disappeared into the distance. An explosion broke through the walls in front of Kakashi.

"You think we're going to let those kids get away, don't let those brats get away." Tekka ordered the four non-Uchiha.

The four men took off, Kakashi tried to intercept them but a large fire dragon stopped that.

"You should be focused on the danger in front of you." Inabi said charging Kakashi.

**X-x-X**

"We should have stayed and helped Kakashi sensei kill those bastards." Sasuke growled from atop his yellow and green toad.

"We would have got in the way and you know it." Naruto argued.

"You mean Sakura would have gotten in the way." Sasuke said staring Naruto down who refused to look at him.

"It's not her fault she got teamed with us." Naruto said looking forward.

They had made it a good distance away from the battle, something didn't feel right. Naruto look around them and nothing seemed off but he had a gut feeling.

"Down." He yelled as a rain of shuriken flew over their heads.

The four men sent by Tekka appeared behind them. Naruto looked at Sasuke who nodded back, "stop." He commanded the toads.

The toads stopped, the four men stood in front of them on tree branches. Ten clones of Naruto popped into existence surrounding the genin.

"I need you to escort these two as they take Sakura back to the village." Naruto told his clones as he unsealed the Susanoo no Te.

The clones nodded and surround the toads as they once again began their journey for the village. One of the men move to stop them but he was unfortunate enough to run into one of Naruto's blades. He was dead on the spot, the blade buried in his chest hitting his heart.

"Attacking us wasn't such a good idea, I guess you get to blow some steam off after all." Naruto said pushing the man off of his sword.

"I guess I do." He said running through seals, "**Raiton**: **Shishihōkō."** He cupped his hands to his mouth as he took a deep breath, he let the breath go sending an electrified shout at his opponents.

The three remaining men jumped away just as the jutsu smash the branches they once stood on into pieces. They all jumped off into different directions, Sasuke chased after the one closes to him. Naruto sighed as he disappeared chasing his own opponent.

Sasuke appeared in the tree tops, it seemed that he was the one who followed two of them. He activated his sharingan as he smiled in anticipation.

"You shouldn't be smiling kid you're about to die." One of the shinobi said.

"I might just take your precious eyes for myself." The other said.

Sasuke reined his anger in as he shot forward, he was upon his enemies quicker than they could react. He kicked the first one in the chest sending him careening to the ground. He leaned to right dodging a punch from the other one. He crouched down sweeping at his opponent's feet knocking him down out of the trees. Sasuke quickly followed jumping down, he was kicked in the chest before he reached the ground. He crashed into a tree he groaned in pain as he felt some of his ribs crack on impact, the two men walked over to him he looked up at them.

"Look at the tough little Uchiha now." The one on the right said.

"Now I'll take your eyes and make them mine." The other said crouching down.

He crouched down, Sasuke smacked his hand away but the man just punched him in the stomach knocking the wind out of him. The man pulled out a Kunai and plunged it into the skin right under Sasuke's left eye. Sasuke's screams filled the forest, the two men laughed as Sasuke stopped screaming and moving.

"It looks like the brat-." The one standing started to say as his throat was slit.

His partner looked up in surprise as his partner fell dead, he looked back to Sasuke just as he started to fade away. His eyes widened in realization, he knew he was going to die. Just then a kunai emerged from his chest. His body fell revealing a bloodied Sasuke with a kunai in his hand. He turned around slowly falling to the ground. A blue blur caught him before he could hit the ground soon followed by a white blur. Naruto who had a couple of scratches held his teammate as Kakashi stood over them.

"Sensei he has two broken ribs and if we don't get him medical attention soon his lung could collapse." Naruto calmly told his sensei.

Kakashi picked Sasuke up, "Well let's go we have no time to waste." He said speeding towards the village.

**X-x-X**

Sakura was afraid, one minute she and her team were being confronted by six men and then the next minute she was on one of Naruto's toads surrounded by his clones. She was worried about her team anything could have happened to them.

"Hey toad take me back to my team." She ordered.

"My name is Gorou and Naruto told me to take you to the village and that's what I'm going to do." Gorou told her.

Sakura looked ahead of her and saw Konoha on the horizon, "How did we get here so fast, it took my team a day to get to the capitol."

"Well we were moving at civilian pace and remember we didn't come from the capitol." A Naruto clone answered.

Sakura took the chance she had to relax and enjoy the scenery the land of fire offered during the spring. She still couldn't help but worry about her team but she knew they could handle themselves. She looked at the clones all around this was a good chance to learn more about her teammates.

"Hey clone, why did Naruto want to become a shinobi?" She asked the clone closest to her.

"You could say he was born for it." He said looking away, "But when boss was a kid all he was around were shinobi strong ones at that and he always wanted to be like them, you know protect those who can't protect themselves."

Sakura stayed silent as she listened to the clone go on about Naruto. She hadn't really talked to him when they were in the academy mainly because the fact that he didn't care for fan girls. She always thought he was a pompous jerk but now she was starting to realize her quest for Sasuke had clouded her mind and she strayed away from her primary purpose of learning how to become a Konoha kunoichi. She was broken out of her thoughts by the toad she was riding. She looked around and the clones had disappeared along with the other toad but it seems they had made it home.

"Thank you for the ride Gorou-san." Sakura said bowing to the toad.

"No problem, any friend of Naruto is a friend of mine." The toad said before disappearing in a plume of smoke.

Three shadows descended upon Sakura as soon as she got close to the entrance to the leaf village.

"State your name and business." The lead shinobi told her.

Sakura started to tell the men what they wanted to know but she was interrupted by a yellow flash signifying the arrival of their legendary leader.

"Stand down I have this under control you may go back to your post." He commanded, "Come with me." He said holding his hand out to Sakura.

As soon as she placed her hand in his palm they disappeared in a flash. They appeared inside of the hokage's office. Sakura looked as if she was going to be sick, Minato smiled before putting on his commander-in-chief face.

"Sit down we have some things to talk about." Minato said sitting in his chair.

Sakura walked over in front of the desk and sat in the chair. Minato looked at her with a hint of indifference but his eyes were different. She couldn't really get a read on him but that was expected he was the hokage.

"Is this about Kishi?" She asked nervously as she sat in the presence of one of if not the most powerful men in the world.

"Yes, I want to know what happened after you left the capitol with the imposter who claimed to be Kishi." Minato told her.

"Well he led us to a bandit camp north of the capitol and he went in first then Kakashi sensei gave us orders. After a while we met back up but Kishi was still fighting and Kakashi sensei asked us if we had noticed anything weird. Naruto and Sasuke answered then the six men appeared and after that all I remember is waking up on the toads, I'm sorry if that's not enough." She told him.

"No that's more than enough, you may go home if you want I can send someone to notify you when your team gets back." He told her.

Sakura nodded before getting out of her chair and walking home.

**X-x-X**

It was in the dead of the night when Kakashi and his two male students made it back to the village. Just as with Sakura before the guard gates appeared in front of them but at the sight of the three men they instantly cooperated helping them get Sasuke to a hospital. Naruto and Kakashi were now standing in front of Minato waiting to debrief.

"I already got what happened before these mysterious men appeared from Sakura now I need to know what happened afterwards." Minato said in hokage mode.

"Two of them were Inabi and Tekka Uchiha." Kakashi said surprising Minato.

"Well this will create some problems, nothing said here will leave this room am I clear?" Minato asked the two in front of him as well as the hidden ANBU.

"They seem to be working for someone who wants something that Naruto has." Kakashi said hinting at something.

"They never they wanted it from me." Naruto said looking up at his sensei in confusion.

"Yes but why else would they try to stop the three of you when I told you to leave?" Kakashi asked.

"They could have wanted to keep the fact of them being alive a secret." Naruto retorted.

"Maybe but I doubt it, the whole time they were talking to me their focus was on you." Kakashi told him.

Naruto sat there trying to think back and see if they were in fact looking at him the whole time.

"You're right I guess I was too busy trying to calm Sasuke down." Naruto said.

"This is not good, we have a mysterious group that our missing Uchiha are a part of and they are out to get the biju within my son." Minato said sighing.

"There's been something bugging me." Naruto said folding his arms.

"What is it son?" Minato asked.

"Well why did they pick Kishi to impersonate, they could have picked noble or a random person." Naruto said.

"I would say they've been watching us for some time, they had to know that Kishi had been in the capitol and that we would be in the capitol but what worries me is that they knew of the relationship Kishi and I have. Not many people knew we worked together before as all the missions we did together were black ops missions." Kakashi answered.

"That is quite disturbing information like that isn't easily found but for now all we can do is watch out for these guys and find out more about them." Minato said standing up.

"What about the chunin exams?" Naruto asked a little worried he wouldn't be able to go.

"What about them? If you're worried about me keeping you away don't." Minato said getting a sigh of relief from his son, "Now get home I have to talk to Kakashi alone."

Naruto nodded then disappeared in a gust of wind. Minato wave his hand causing the hidden guards to show themselves, they appeared from the shadows kneeling in front of their leader.

"I need you and your team to go guard the entrance to my office." He said to the one with a tiger mask, "No one gets in and I mean no one."

They silently left the room, when the door shut Minato created the necessary hand seal to activate the privacy seals placed throughout the office. Like many times before the seal matrixes illuminated the room in a light green glow.

"What's so important that you have to relieve your guard and put up privacy seals?" Kakashi asked.

"I need to tell you something that only three other people in the village know." He answered.

Kakashi prepared himself for the information he was about to receive. He had been among the elite in the village for a long time so he knew a lot of secrets some that would break a lesser person this couldn't be any worse or at least that's what he thought.

"What is it sensei?" Kakashi asked him.

"I knew that Inabi and Tekka deserted the village, in fact I knew they helped in the Uchiha massacre along with another familiar face." Minato revealed.

It didn't surprise Kakashi that his sensei knew that the two Uchiha were alive but the fact that he knew they helped killed their own clansmen with the help of someone he knew was surprising.

"Who would want to destroy the Uchiha clan?" Kakashi asked getting curious.

"The man claiming to be Uchiha Madara all those years back approached Itachi and Shisui offering them a chance to help him destroy the Uchiha, he told them if they refused he would kill the ones they loved most. Although they agreed to help they reported it to me soon after but that night Shisui's father Kagami was found dead with a kunai in his heart with a note attached." Minato told him.

"I do remember that, that was the first time I saw Shisui cry, what about the one Itachi loved most I don't remember anyone else dying that night?" Kakashi asked.

"Fortunately Sasuke was at my home at a sleep over with the rest of Naruto's friends." Minato said.

"So whoever that masked man is he's the boss Inabi and Tekka were talking about, if so what does he want with the Kyubi?" Kakashi said trying to figure the mystery of the masked man out.

"He might be but when we fought he did say he would come back and there would be nothing I could do to stop him." Minato said with his face in his hands.

Kakashi looked at his sensei, he truly looked stress he hadn't looked like he did now since…Kakashi hadn't ever seen his sensei stress like this.

"It's been a long day Kakashi, we both should get home and get some sleep." Minato told his student.

Kakashi nodded, he took one last look at his sensei before leaving to get home. Minato sat in his chair thinking about the things that had happened in the past year. A new village could be gearing up for war with his village, his son became a genin and now said son was being hunted by the same lunatic that cause him to become a jinchuriki. He sighed one last time before disappearing in his signature yellow flash

**X-x-X**

Team seven had been told to take a few days off so the healthy members decided to go see Sasuke. He had suffered two broken ribs which would heal in about a month. He was told he could leave at any time since he was already treated. When team seven arrived Sasuke was standing at the window.

"Sasuke?" Sakura called out to him.

He didn't react he just kept standing there looking out the window. Kakashi walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder making Sasuke jump. He turned around find his team standing there.

"What are you guys doing here?" He asked.

"We came to see how you were doing." Sakura said.

"I don't need to be check up on." Sasuke said turning back towards the window.

"There's no need for the anger little brother." Itachi said coming up behind team seven.

"Great now you're here." Sasuke growled.

"Yes I am Sasuke I couldn't let my injured little brother walk out of here alone." He said walking over to Sasuke.

"I don't ne-." Sasuke started to say before Itachi poked his forehead.

Anger filled Sasuke's eyes, "How can you be so calm when those two cowards are out there on the loose?" He screamed.

Itachi turned to his brother's teammates and sensei, "Would you please give us a moment alone?"

Kakashi took his two students outside to give the two Uchiha some privacy.

"Well you two have the next few days off so enjoy your time." Kakashi said as he walked off with a pink book in his hand.

"What are you going to do Naruto?" Sakura asked turning around to find an empty space.

Sakura stood there with nothing to do, her sensei told her to enjoy her time off but once again she had proved herself to be nothing but a hindrance to her team out in the field. She would train so she could at least support her team she didn't want to put her team in danger again. She set off for home determined to better herself.

**X-x-X**

Naruto was on his way to meet his friends for lunch. He hadn't seen or talked to them for weeks. He was a bit sad that they weren't meeting at Ichiraku's but Yakiniku Q was okay too. He entered the restaurant looking for his friends, a waiter walked up to him.

"Can I get you a table?" He asked.

"No actually I'm here meeting my friends." Naruto told him.

"Do your friends have names?" The waiter asked.

"It should be under Shikamaru Nara." He told him.

"Ah yes, follow me." He told him walking away.

The waiter led him to the back of the restaurant. He saw Shikamaru lazily waving him over to their table. At the table sat Shikamaru, Shino and Ino, Choji was nowhere to be found it wasn't like him to miss a meal.

"What's up guys." He said sitting down, "And girl." He said looking at Ino.

Shino gave a silent nod, Shikamaru a lazy hello and Ino a loud hey.

"Where's Choji he never misses a chance to eat and what is she doing here?" Naruto asked pointing at Ino.

"Choji got hurt during training today and Asuma sensei had to take him to the hospital and Ino didn't have anything to do and followed me here." He drawled dodging a swing from Ino.

"I did not follow you here." She said pouting.

"Whatever you're here now so we have to make the best of it." He said waving the waiter over.

They ordered their food, they sat in an awkward silence waiting for it.

"Naruto I heard Sasuke was in the hospital, what happened to him?" Shikamaru asked.

"I can't really tell you what happened but he was hurt during a fight on our last mission but he's fine. We actually just came from seeing him." He told them.

"What about you guys have you been on any exciting missions?" Naruto asked the other genin.

"My team has not." Shino answered.

"We had a mission a week back where we fought some bandits." Ino told him.

Shikamaru shrunk back into his seat, at that moment Naruto knew that Shikamaru had taken his first human life.

They sat in silence for the rest of the meal only speaking when one of them asked the other about their food. One by one they left until it was Naruto and Ino sitting at the table. Naruto had stayed to eat the rest of the food he ordered and Ino had fallen asleep.

"Uh Ino." Naruto said poking her shoulder. She didn't respond so he poked her in her face.

She rose up in a quick jerk, she had a small line of drool coming out of her mouth and her hair was in her face.

"Wh-what, Naruto what do you want?" She asked.

"I was leaving and I didn't want to leave you here alone." He told her.

"Oh well thanks, I guess I'll be going." Ino said.

"I'll walk you home." Naruto said following her.

Ino looked a little surprised. Naruto really hadn't talked to her before only when he had to or when it couldn't be avoided and now here he was offering to walk her home.

"No I think I'll manage alone but thanks for offering." She said.

"If you really think I'm going to let you walk home alone then you're crazy." Naruto said folding his arms.

Ino sighed knowing she wouldn't win.

They walked to the other side of the village to the Yamanaka house. They barely talked but they did get to know each other a little bit more. Ino learned that Naruto did calligraphy during his spare time and he like hunting. Naruto learned that Ino wasn't the fan girl he thought she was and she actually had some skill as a kunoichi.

As Naruto started to walk home a group of shadows fell upon him from overhead. He looked up and saw dozens of ninja heading in the direction of the hokage tower. It was an odd site to see so many shinobi mobilizing at one time. He snapped out of his daze and quickly followed the mass of shinobi headed towards his dad's office. He arrived at the tower making his way to his dad's office only to be stopped by two chunin guarding the door.

"I'm sorry no one is allowed in right now." The brown haired chunin stated.

"Not even the son of the hokage." The other one said.

Naruto sighed, "Can you at least tell me what's going on?" He asked them.

The two men looked at each other, "There have been multiple attacks on our northern base and hokage-sama is sending more men to fortify it." The brown haired one told him.

Naruto stood there going through possible outcomes from the attacks on their base and none of them had peace in them.

"Thanks anyway." Naruto said walking away, "It seems things are getting interesting." He thought.

**I know I said I would get the journey to Kiri in this chapter but I couldn't put it in without using a huge time-skip and that would have taken away quality character development and we all don't want that. Next chapter will have it for sure though so just bear with me. **


End file.
